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reetings from Australia. 

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Pip Wilson

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Curiosity did not kill this cat.
Studs Terkel, self-chosen epitaph

Absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely.
Studs Terkel

More Studs Terkel quotes at Wikiquote

Too much of a good thing is simply wonderful!
Liberace, flamboyant American pianist, born on May 16, 1919

I cried all the way to the bank.
Liberace; (often misquoted as "laughed", but then the clever irony is missed; the musician was referring to an incident in which he sued over a bad review)

You know that bank I used to cry all the way to? I bought it.
Liberace

My whole trick is to keep the tune well out in front. If I play Tchaikovsky I play his melodies and skip his spiritual struggles.
Liberace

Cassie has made me the man I am, the actor I am, the father I am. She's forever embedded in every fibre of my being.
Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor, born on May 16; 1953, about his deceased wife Cassandra

It's a role better suited to someone who is in his 40s, old enough to have the confidence and the sophistication and strength to be able to stand there and just let the moment sit. Bond is a man with the greatest of confidence. And playing that takes practice. In 1986, I think I was 33 or something like that, and I still looked like a baby. Finally, I'm growing into this face of mine. That takes time.
Pierce Brosnan; on why he thinks he would have regretted winning the James Bond role in 1986

May 16 is the 136^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137^th in leap years), with 229 days remaining.
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Feast day of St Brendan the Elder (aka, the Navigator, or Voyager)

This most widely diffused of all legendary saints, St Brendan, is found in manuscripts of all Western European languages, and the travels of St Brendan are the subject of a popular medieval romance, Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (The Voyage of Saint Brendan).

Some say that Brendan sailed from Ireland and found America in the 6^th Century. In the 1970s, Tim Severin showed that it was possible to sail a coracle (a small boat made of wood and leather) to America, so it is possible, if unlikely, that Irish monks might have preceded Christopher Columbus by several centuries.

Founder and first abbot of the monastery at Clonfert, Galway, Brendan went looking for the island that had once contained Adam and Eve's paradise, encountering the monstrous fish named Jascon (Jasconius) along the way. He got a ship victualled for seven years, and for 12 monks, but two more wanted to come. "Ye may sail with me", he said, "but one of  you will go to perdition ere you return".

After 40 days they saw land and sailed around it for three days, when they went ashore. A dog came up and made him welcome "in his manner". The hound took them to a fine hall with a feast spread out, which they ate. There were beds ready for them, so they slept, and the next day they put to sea again and went a long time without seeing land.

After some time they found a beautiful land with green pasture and a flock of the whitest, fattest sheep they'd ever seen, every one as big as an ox. A kind old man came and said "This is the Island of Sheep, and here is never cold weather, but ever Summer; and that causes the sheep to be so big and white". He told them to sail east, whence they would come to the Paradise of Birds, where they could keep their Easter-tide celebrations.

As they soon came to land, they made a fire to cook dinner, but their island began to move and Brendan's intrepid travellers fled to the ship. The sainted leader of this fabulous expedition told his crew that the cause was a great fish called Jasonius, or Jascon, "which laboured night and day to put its tail in its mouth, but for greatness it could not" ...

Read on at the St Brendan page at the Scriptorium

Lives and Legends of St Brendan the Voyager by Denis O'Donaghue    More

Rogation Sunday

On the dating of items in the Almanac

"Rogation Sunday is the Sunday before Ascension Day, the Rogation days are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday following Rogation Sunday. Rogation is the Latin equivalent of the Greek litaneia, supplication or litany (Lat. rotatio), and in the Roman Catholic Church on the three Rogation days 'the Litany of the Saints' is appointed to be sung by the clergy and people in public procession.

"The Rogation Days used to be called Gang Days, from the custom of ganging round the country parishes to beat the bounds at this time. Similarly the weed milkwort is called Rogation or Gang-flower from the custom of decorating the pole carried on such occasions with these flowers."
Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988

Also called in Britain Crouchmas, a term that was also applied to May 3, The Invention of the Cross. The coming week was once also called Grass Week, because only salads were eaten. It was also known as Cross Week and Procession week.

Beating the bounds

Rogation days were also called Gange Days, from the Saxon word gangen, to go. In Roman Catholic times in England, this perambulation was a matter of great ceremony. Banners, hand-bells and lights were carried. At one place they would stop and feast, at another they would assemble around a cross for a sermon. After the Reformation, processions were forbidden, but the useful part of this tradition was retained.

Queen Elizabeth I formalised the tradition by ordering it, and the walkers were to be preached to along the way and return to church for common prayers at end. The religious component was largely to give thanks for the bounteous earth they crossed. Psalm 104 was read: Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbour.

If a house was built over the parish boundary, the gangers would walk through it. If a canal had been cut across the bounds, at least some of the parishioners had to strip off and wade through it. Once, the story goes, in the parish of St George's, Hanover-square, London, a nobleman's coach was parked across the border. The parishioners asked the driver to move, but he refused. So the churchwarden opened the door on one side of the coach, got in, and left through the other side, followed by the parishioners.

Saint Mamertius or Mamertus was the one who initiated the Rogation rites, or so it is said. However, the practice derives from a similar Roman ritual of the Ambarvalia, among other seasons.

More on beating the bounds at the Ascension page, May 20

Tomorrow, a picture of beating the bounds in old London

Dragon legends

The Rogation days are a prime source of dragon legends in England.

"During these days the clergy, accompanied by the church officers and people, walked round the boundaries of their respective parishes; and at certain prescribed spots offered up prayers, beseeching blessings on the fruits of the earth, and protection from the malevolent spirit of all evil. To a certain extent the custom is still observed in many English parishes."
Robert Chambers

Saints, dragons and serpents in the Book of days

The Rogation Days are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Holy Thursday, or Ascension Day. It is said that Claudius Mamercus, Bishop of Vienna, about the year 452, ordered these days to be observed as public fasts, with solemn processions and supplications, on the occasion of some great public calamity. The arrangement, meeting with approbation, was imitated and repeated, till at length it became a law in the Latin Church that they should be observed annually, with processions and supplications, to secure a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and the temporal interests of men. These three days are called Rogation Days, the week Rogation Week, and the Sunday preceding, Rogation Sunday, from the Rogations or Litanies chanted in the processions. The Church of England, at the Reformation, discontinued the public processions, but ordered these days to be observed as private fasts. There is no special office, or order of prayer, or even a single collect appointed in the prayer-book for the Rogation Days; but in the book of Homilies we find a Homily, divided into three parts, specially designed for the improvement of these three days.

Gange Days

The Gange Days are the same as the three Rogation Days, and were so called from the ancient custom of perambulating the boundaries of the parish on those days, the name being derived from the Saxon word gangen, to go. In Roman Catholic times, this perambulation was a matter of great ceremony, attended with feastings and various superstitious practices. Banners, which the parish was bound to provide, hand-bells, and lights enlivened the procession. At one place the perambulators would stop to feast; and at another assemble round a cross to be edified with some godly admonition, or the legend of some saint or martyr, and so complete the circuit of the parish. When processions were forbidden, the useful part of these perambulations was retained. By the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth it was required that, in order to retain the perambulation of the circuits of parishes, the people should once in the year, at the time accustomed, with the curate and substantial men of the parish, walk about the parishes, as they were accustomed, and at their return to the church make their common prayers. And the curate in these perambulations was at certain convenient places to admonish the people to give thanks to God, as they beheld His benefits, and for the increase and abundance of the fruits upon the face of the earth. The 104^th Psalm was appointed to be said on these occasions, and the minister was to inculcate such sentence as, 'Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbour.'

The writer recollects one of these perambulations in his earlier days. The vicar of the parish was there; so were the 'substantial men,' and a goodly number of juveniles too; but the admonitions, the psalm, and the sentences, were certainly not. It was a merry two days' ramble through all sorts of odd places. At one time we entered a house by the door, and left it by a window on the opposite side; at another, men threw off their clothes to cross a canal at a certain point; then we climbed high walls, dived through the thickest part of a wood, and left everywhere in our track the conspicuous capitals, It. P. Buns and beer were served out to those who were lucky enough, or strong enough, to get them. And at one spot a large flat stone was pointed out, which had a hole in the middle; and the oracles of the day assured us that the parson used to have his head thrust into that hole, with his heels uppermost, for refusing to bury a corpse found there.

PAROCHIAL PERAMBULATIONS 

The ancient custom of perambulating parishes in Rogation week had a two-fold object. It was designed to supplicate the Divine blessing on the fruits of the earth; and to preserve in all classes of the community a correct knowledge of, and due respect for, the bounds of parochial and individual property. It appears to have been derived from a still older custom among the ancient Romans, called Terminalia, and Ambarvalia, which were festivals in honour of the god Terminus and the goddess Ceres. On becoming a Christian custom, the heathen rites and ceremonies were, of course, discarded, and those of Christianity substituted. It was appointed to be observed on one of the Rogation days which were the three days next before Ascension Day. These days were so called from having been appropriated in the fifth century by Mamercus, Bishop of Vienna, to special prayer and fasting on account of the frequent earthquakes which had destroyed, or greatly injured, vegetation.

Before the Reformation, parochial perambulations were conducted with great ceremony. The lord of the manor, with a large banner, priests in surplices and with crosses, and other persons with hand-bells, banners and staves, followed by most of the parishioners, walked in procession round the parish, stopping at crosses, forming crosses on the ground, 'saying or singing gospels to the corn,' and allowing 'drinkings and good cheer; 'which was remarkable, as the Rogation days were appointed fasts. From the different practices observed on the occasion the custom received the various names of processioning, rogationing, perambulating, and ganging the boundaries; and the week in which it was observed was called Rogation Week; Cross Week, because crosses were borne in the processions; and Grass Week, because the Rogation days being fasts, vegetables formed the chief portion of diet.

At the Reformation, the ceremonies and practices deemed objectionable were abolished, and only 'the useful and harmless part of the custom retained.' Yet its observance was considered so desirable, that a homily was prepared for the occasion; and injunctions were issued requiring that for 'the perambulation of the circuits of parishes, the people should once in the year, at the time accustomed, with the rector, vicar, or curate, and the substantial men of the parish, walk about the parishes, as they were accustomed, and at their return to the church make their common prayer. And the curate, in their said common perambulations, was at certain convenient places to admonish the people to give thanks to God (while beholding of His benefits), and for the increase and abundance of His fruits upon the face of the earth, with the saying of the 103^rd Psalm. At which time also the said minister was required to inculcate these, or such like sentences, Cursed be he which translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbour; or such other order of prayers as should be lawfully appointed.' 

In strict accordance with these directions, we find that 'the judicious Richard Hooker,' who is allowed by all parties to be a faithful exemplar of a true English Churchman, duly observed the custom of perambulation. 'He would by no means,' says his biographer, 'omit the customary time of procession, persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired the preservation of love, and their parish rights and liberties, to accompany him in his perambulation, and most did so; in which perambulation he would usually express more pleasant discourse than at other times, and would then always drop some loving and facetious observations to be remembered against the next year, especially by the boys and young people; still inclining them and all his present parishioners to meekness, and mutual kindnesses, and love; because love thinks not evil, but covers a multitude of infirmities.'

Those engaged in the processions usually had refreshments provided for them at certain parts of the parish, which, from the extent of the circuit of some parishes, was necessary; yet the cost of such refreshment was not to be defrayed by the parish, nor could such refreshment be claimed as a custom from any particular house or family. But small annuities were often bequeathed to provide such refreshments. In the parish of Edgcott, Buckinghamshire, there was about an acre of land, let at £3 a year, called 'Gang Monday Land,' which was left to the parish officers to provide cakes and beer for those who took part in the annual perambulation of the parish. At Clifton Reynes, in the same county, a bequest of land for a similar purpose directs that 'one small loaf, a piece of cheese, and a pint of ale, should be given to every married person, and half a pint of ale to every unmarried person, resident in Clifton, when they walked the parish boundaries in Rogation week.' A certain estate in Husborne Crawley, Bedfordshire, has to pay £4 on Rogation Day, once in seven years, to defray the expense of perambulating, and keeping up the boundaries of the parish.

Although perambulations were not to be at the cost of parishes, yet they were justified in maintaining the ancient circuit, though opposed by the owners of property over which they proceeded. Burns cites an instance in which this case was tried against the parishioners of Rudham, who, in their perambulation, had broken down two gates and a fence; and the court decided in favour of the parishioners, stating: 'parishioners may well justify the going over any man's land in the perambulation, according to their usage, and abate all nuisances in their way.' 

This necessity or determination to perambulate along the old track often occasioned curious incidents. If a canal had been cut through the boundary of a parish, it was deemed necessary that some of the parishioners should pass through the water. Where a river formed part of the boundary line, the procession either passed along it in boats, or some of the party stripped and swam along it, or boys were thrown into it at customary places. If a house had been erected on the boundary line, the procession claimed the right to pass through it. A house in Buckinghamshire, still existing, has an oven only passing over the boundary line. It was customary in the perambulations to put a boy into this recess to preserve the integrity of the boundary line.

It was considered a good joke by the village lads, who, therefore, became ambitious of the honour, and, as they approached the house, generally settled by lot who should be the hero for the year. On one occasion, as the procession entered the house, they found the mistress just about to bake, and the oven full of blazing fagots. The boys, on seeing the flame issuing from the oven-mouth, exclaimed 'Tom Smith is the boy to go into the oven!' Poor Tom, expecting to be baked alive, uttered a fearful scream, and ran off home as fast as his legs could carry him. Another boy was made to scramble over the roof of the oven, and the boundary right was thus deemed sufficiently maintained. 

A more ludicrous scene occurred in London about the beginning of the present century. As the procession of churchwardens, parish officers, etc., followed by a concourse of cads, were perambulating the parish of St. George's, Hanover-square, they came to the part of a street where a nobleman' s coach was standing just across the boundary line. The carriage was empty, waiting for the owner, who was in the opposite house. The principal churchwarden, therefore, himself a nobleman, desired the coachman to drive out of their way. 'I won't!' said the sturdy coachman; 'my lord told me to wait here, and here I'll wait, till his lordship tells me to move!' The churchwarden coolly opened the carriage door, entered it, passed out through the opposite door, and was followed by the whole procession, cads, sweeps, and scavengers. 

The last perambulation I witnessed was in 1818, at a small village in Derbyshire. It was of rather a degenerate character. There was no clergyman present, nor anything of a religious nature in the proceedings. The very name processioning had been transmuted (and not inaptly) into possessioning. The constable, with a few labourers, and a crowd of boys, constituted the procession, if such an irregular company could be so called. An axe, a mattock, and an iron crow, were carried by the labourers, for the purpose of demolishing any building or fence which had been raised without permission on the 'waste ground,' or for which the 'acknowledgment' to the lord of the manor had not been paid. At a small hamlet, rejoicing in the name of 'Wicked Nook,' some unfortunate rustic had unduly built a pig-sty. Poor grunty was turned adrift, and his luckless shed levelled to the ground. A new cottage, or mud hut, not much better than the pig's shed, was allowed to remain, on the cottager' s wife proffering the 'acknowledgment.' At various parts of the parish boundaries, two or three of the village boys were 'bumped' —that is, a certain part of the person was swung against a stone wall, a tree, a post, or any other hard object which happened to be near the parish boundary. This, it will scarcely be doubted, was an effectual method of recording the boundaries in the memory of these battering-rams, and of those who witnessed this curious mode of registration.

The custom of perambulating parishes continued in some parts of the kingdom to a late period, but the religious portion of it was generally, if not universally, omitted. The custom has, however, of late years been revived in its integrity in many parishes, and certainly such a perambulation among the bounties of creation affords a Christian minister a most favourable opportunity for awakening in his parishioners a due sense of gratitude towards Him who maketh the 'sun to shine, and the rains to descend upon the earth, so that it may bring forth its fruit in due season.' 
Robert Chambers, (Ed.), The Book of Days: A miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, etc, W & R Chambers, London, 1881 (1879 Edition is online and 1869 edition here with CD-ROM available; See also The English Year: A Personal Selection from Chambers's Book of Days)

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Feast day of St John Nepomucene (John Nepomucen; John of Nepomuk) (Great star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum umbrellatum, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint)  This 14th-Century Bohemian churchman is the patron saint of Czechoslovakia. He was born at Nepomuk, Bohemia, 1340; some sources say he died in Prague, March 20, 1393, while others say it was on the vigil of the Ascension (May 16 that year), 1383 (some sources say 1393). He was canonized in 1729. John was the confessor of Queen Sophie, consort of Wenceslaus IV, King of Germany and Emperor of Bohemia. The king tried to force St John to reveal to him the secrets of his virtuous wife's confessions, and when John refused, Wenceslaus had the saint tortured and drowned in Prague's Muldaw River. The moment St John's body touched the water, thousands of tiny stars encircled it and a fire burned on the river's surface. A stream of light issued from deep in the river, "reflecting the glory of the martyr's soul". His body drifted slowly downstream throwing off rays of light in all directions. A "troop of light," followed the body, as if to represent a funeral procession. The whole city came alive with excitement and citizens gathered to see the spectacle, while the tyrant, terrified by the news, fled to a house in the country, forbidding any one to follow him. St John's tongue did not rot after his death, and his tomb has been the site of many miracles. Or, so it is said. John Nepomucen is patron saint of confessors, Bohemia, bridge builders, bridges, Czechoslovakia, discretion, running water and silence, and is also invoked against calumnies, against indiscretions, against slander and against floods.   Bees in May If bees swarm and leave in May, you'll get good honey that year. You are allowed by custom to follow them over anyone's land and claim them when they rest. You must, however, make a beating sound on a metal utensil. This will also make the bees stop. Hillman, Tusser Redivivus, 1710 (Charles Kightly, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, Thames and Hudson, London, 1987)     Goddess month of Hera commences (May 16 - Jun 12) In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hêra the Great Goddess of pre-Hellene Minoan culture transmitted to the Greeks through Mycene and other city-states of the Mycenean culture, has been made into the wife and sister of Zeus. She then presides as goddess of marriage, the patriarchal bond of her own subordination. She had a long separate existence before she was incorporated, with considerable difficulty into the pantheon dominated by Zeus. In late anecdotal versions of the myths (see below) she appear to spend most of her time plotting revenge on the other women her husband consorts with. She was called Juno by the Romans. Source: Wikipedia   Related: Juno     Drinking on Wrekin Hill, near Wellington, Shropshire, England Until early in the 19th Century (1820s), people assembled on the four Sundays after May Day to drink the health of "all friends around the Wrekin". There was so much drunkenness and licentiousness that the magistrates banned the custom. "To all friends around the Wrekin", meanwhile, is a toast traditionally used in Shropshire, especially at Christmas and New Year. For several centuries the hill was known as Mount Gilbert, a name given to it by the Normans after a hermit who lived there. More on the Wrekin    The legend of the Wrekin giant   Sunday before Ascension (Sixth Sunday of Easter), Hanswijk Procession, Mechelen, Belgium "One of the oldest civic/religious processions in Belgium, the Hanswijk procession fills the important medieval town of Mechelen, north of Brussels. "The festival is said to have originated in 1272, when Mechelen was saved from an epidemic of the plague through the intercession of the Virgin Mary. Since then the grateful inhabitants of the city have carried a statue of the Virgin on a procession through the city every year ... The parade has three sections, the first of which details the history of Hanswijck. The second one illustrates the life of the Virgin Mary, and the third one focuses on her son Jesus."   Source   Feast day of St Abdas, Bishop of Cascar, martyr Feast day of St Abdjesus, bishop, martyr Feast day of St Adam, hermit on Mount Vissiano near Ferno, Italy Feast day of St Andrew Bobola Andrzej Bobola (1591 - May 16, 1657) was a Jesuit missionary and martyr, known as "an Apostle of Pinszczyzna" and "a hunter of souls". His body was supposed to be incorruptible. More Feast day of St Annobert Feast day of St Carantac Feast day of St Carantoc Feast day of St Domnolus Feast day of St Felix Feast day of St Fidouls Feast day of St Forannan Feast day of St Gennadius Feast day of St Germerius Feast day of St Hilary Feast day of St Honorius (Honoratus; Honoré) of Amiens St Honorius (d. 653), Bishop of Amiens, is the French patron saint of bakers, confectioners, and pastry chefs. St Honorius was remembered by the bakers of Paris on the anniversary of his death with a procession, a high mass, a banquet and a dance. The Saint Honoré cake bears his name. Feast day of St Peregrinus   Feast day of St Simon Stock, confessor, of Kent According to Carmelite traditions, St Simon Stock (c. 1165 - May 16, 1265) was the English Carmelite to whom the Brown Scapular (the scapular – a Roman Catholic devotional artefact in the form of a cloth pendant – of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) was given. All that is historically certain is that in 1247 he was elected the sixth general of the Carmelites, as successor to Alan, at the first chapter held at Aylesford, Kent, England. According to a pious tradition the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St Simon Stock at Cambridge, England, on Sunday, July 16, 1251. In answer to his appeal for help for his oppressed order, she appeared to him with a scapular in her hand ... read on at July 16. More   More    And more   Feast day of St Ubaldus Baldassini, Bishop of Gubbio Ubaldus was a twelfth century Catholic saint, canonized in 1192. Numerous miracles were attributed to him in life and after death. The Office for his feast day describes him as having power over the evil spirits, and the faithful are instructed to have recourse to him "contra omnes diabolicas nequitias". More Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints Rice-Planting Festival, Kochi City, Japan (May 15 - 17) Festivities held at Kochi City, Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine, Kyoto Prefecture. The shrine has a sacred rice paddy where several hundred men take part in a ritual rice-planting. Women are absolute rulers of the community for three days of festivities. The women fling mud from paddies out of wooden buckets at any men they see. Kurofune Matsuri, Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan (May 16 - 18) "Many events of both a traditional and an international flavour as this is a festival to mark the coming of the kurofune (black ships) led by Commodore Matthew Perry who arrived here in 1854 to demand that Japanese ports be opened to American trade."   Source Biographers' Day The anniversary of the meeting of James Boswell and Samuel Johnson in 1763 (see below). Considered a good day to begin reading or writing a biography. National Sea-Monkey Day, USA Not From a Sea. Not Monkeys. Discuss.    Sea-Monkeys    Sea-Monkeys homepage       On which day of the week were you born? Find out here 1490 Albert of Prussia, first duke of Prussia 1611 Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689) 1678 Andreas Silbermann (d. 1734), organ builder 1718 Maria Gaetana Agnesi (d. 1799), mathematician 1801 William Henry Seward (William H Seward; William Seward; d. October 10, 1872), American statesman: Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, he negotiated the purchase of Alaska from the Russians. The acquisition was branded 'Seward's Folly'. 1804 Elizabeth Peabody (Elizabeth Palmer Peabody; d. January 3, 1894), American transcendentalist, activist, educator and founder of the first American kindergarten "Elizabeth Peabody was the sister-in-law of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who married her sister Sophia in 1842, and educational reformer Horace Mann, who married her sister Mary in 1843. She associated with all of the Transcendentalists, major and minor--Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, James Freeman Clarke, Theodore Parker, and Jones Very among them. The company she kept has tended to eclipse her significance and contributions. And yet, she outlived all of the key figures connected with Transcendentalism, effectively extending the active influence of the movement almost to the turn of the 20th century. "In both her writings and her reform efforts, Miss Peabody was motivated by a comprehensive Transcendental vision of the origin of all matter and spirit and all human activity in God, by a sense of the oneness of God, man, and nature. Perceiving God as benevolent and humanity as morally and intellectually perfectible, she believed that her efforts could help to transform individuals and society."   Source More    And more 1867 Alfred Yewen (Alfred Gregory Yewen; d. June 11, 1923), English-born Australian journalist, early member of the Australian Socialist League (ASL), friend of the Ernest Lane and William Lane and in the UK of William Morris, helping Morris to form the Socialist League. In Sydney, he became active in the ASL with WHT McNamara. In 1894, he collaborated with (later Prime Minister) William Morris Hughes and edited the radical magazine, New Order. Apparently a founder of an intentional community at French's Forest outside Sydney, and a friend of Henry Lawson's, in 1891 he wrote from Brisbane to McNamara with best wishes on behalf of himself, Lawson and Ralph Baynham. Disillusioned with socialism, he left the movement and, in 1900, published Yewen's Directory of the Landholders of New South Wales. Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson 1882 Anne McCormick (d. 1954), journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner 1891 Richard Tauber (d. 1948), tenor 1905 Henry Fonda (d. August 12, 1982), Hollywood actor (The Grapes of Wrath; On Golden Pond) 1912 Studs Terkel (d. October 31, 2008), progressive American author (Working), historian, actor, broadcaster, poet and film critic. Terkel won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for The Good War. Interview with Studs Terkel    America's storyteller    www.studsterkel.org 1913 Woody Herman (d. 1987), American jazz clarinettist, band leader 1919 Liberace (Wladziu Valentino Liberace; d. 1987), American performer; the great pianist, Ignacy Paderewski, a family friend, advised him to follow his own example and bill himself under his last name only. Thorn in his side Liberace successfully sued a London newspaper in 1959 after it published an article which said that he was gay, which he strongly denied in court and insisted that homosexuality was an "abomination". He was publicly sued in 1982 by a certain Scott Thorn (one of his many ex-lovers) for $110 million in palimony. After Liberace's death from AIDS in 1987, Thorn reluctantly settled for $95,000. 1936 Karl Lehmann, theologian 1950 J Georg Bednorz, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1987 1953 Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor "Pierce Brosnan was born in Navan, County Meath, Ireland on May 16, 1953 but moved to England, UK at an early age (thus explaining his ability to play men from both backgrounds convincely [sic]). His father left the household when Pierce was a child and although reunited later in life the two have never had a close relationship. His current, and most popular role is that of British Secret Agent, James Bond. The death, in 1991, of his wife Cassandra of ten years, left him with three children – Christopher and Charlotte from Cassandra's first marriage and Sean from their marriage. Since her death he has had one son, Dylan Thomas, with longtime companion Keely Shaye Smith."   Source 1955 Debra Winger, actress 1958 Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk) 1966 Janet Jackson, American singer 1966 Krist Novoselic, American musician, former bassist for Nirvana 1973 Tori Spelling, American actress   Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section Send a free e-card greeting for today's celebrations to a loved one Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year. Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards International Day Of Families [ May 15 ] Birthdays AIDS Candlelight Memorial [ May 16 ] Endangered Species Varies Full Moon Day Varies Friday the 13th Varies Hindu holidays Varies Hanuman Jayanti Varies Arbor Day Varies Child Care Professionals Day Varies Wesak Day (Malaysia) Varies Buddha Purnima Varies Birthmothers' Day Varies Mothers' Day Varies Mothers' Day (Sweden) Varies Memorial Day (USA)   May 13 Frog Jumping Day 13 Tulip Day 13 Leprechaun Day 14 Motorcycle Riders Day 14 Stars And Stripes Forever Day 14 Dance Like A Chicken Day 14 Crazy Day 15 Butterfly Day 15 Flip Your Mattress Day 15 International Day Of Families 16 Clergy Day 17 Rubber Band Day 17 Emergency Medical Services For Children Day 17 Constitution Day (Norway) 18 Visit Your Relatives Day 19 Plant Something Day 19 Hug Your Cat Day 19 Circus Day 20 Pick Strawberries Day 20 Be A Millionaire Day 20 Flower Day 20 Strawberry Festival (Maryland, USA) 21 Waitstaff Day 21 Greek Philosophers' Day 21 Neighbour Day 21 International AIDS Candlelight Memorial 22 Victoria Day (Canada) 22 Skyscraper Day 23 World Turtle Day 23 Bifocals Day 23 Mesmerism Day 25 Ascension Of Christ 25 Tap Dance Day 25 Self Reliance Day 25 Wine Day 26 Bob Day 26 Cherry Dessert Day 27 International Jazz Day 27 Bridge Day 28 Whale Day   ... More Events Visit the Blogmanac, where today's Almanac is 'live' And I hope you will sign my GuestMap Your family and friends will get a kick when they hear their own name being sung in 'Happy Birthday'!! You can schedule your singing cards in advance, and even add your own face to funny animations. (Pay cards)           If you are enjoying this page, click to receive similar items daily with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine Webmaster, webmasters free content, or else articles at very reasonable rates Pip Wilson's articles are available for your website or publication, on application. Further details   218 CE Elagabalus became Roman emperor after Macrinus was defeated and killed by his supporters. At 15, Elagabalus was the first teenage emperor and the first to practise same-sex marriage. 1204 Baldwin Count of Flanders was crowned first emperor of the Latin Empire. 1220 Work began on Westminster Abbey's construction, London. 1527 Florentines drove out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-established a republic. 1532 Sir Thomas More resigned as Lord Chancellor of England. 1568 Mary Queen of Scots fled to England. 1569 Anabaptist Dirk Willems was martyred by being burned at the stake. He is most famous for his successful escape and subsequent reimprisonment after rescuing his pursuer, who had fallen through thin ice while chasing him. More    Illustration 1571 Johannes Kepler, by his own calculations, was conceived at 4:37 a.m. 1605 Paul V became Pope.  1703 Death of Charles Perrault, French fairy tale author. 1717 French author, Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire), was imprisoned for the first time in the Bastille, suspected of writing subversive satire. 1763 One of Western history's most celebrated friendships commenced. James Boswell first met Dr Samuel Johnson (pictured), whose famous biography, Life of Dr Johnson, he later wrote and published on this day in 1791. They met in the back parlour of Tom Davies's London bookshop. Aware of Johnson's well-known prejudices, Boswell at this first long-awaited meeting admitted: "I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it". 1770 Fourteen-year old Marie Antoinette married 15-year old Louis-Auguste, who later became Louis XVI of France. 1791 James Boswell's Life of Dr Johnson – perhaps the best-known biography in the English language – was published on the 28th anniversary of the meeting of these two remarkable men.   1792 Denmark became the first state to abolish the slave trade. 1811 The US warship President attacked a British sloop.     1816 A UFO was seen for some hours by many inhabitants of the village of Biskophsberga (country not known to me; Bischofsberg?). "On the 16th of last May (1816), being a very warm day, and during a gale of wind from south-west, a cloudless sky, at about 4 O'clock, p.m., the sun became dim, and lost his brightness to that degree, that he could be looked at without inconvenience to the naked eye, (the sun) being of a dark red, or almost bright color, without brilliancy. At the same time there appeared at the western horizon, from where the wind blew, to arise gradually, and in quick succession, a great number of balls, or spherical bodies, to the naked eye of the size of the crown of a hat, and of a dark brown color. "The nearer these bodies, which occupied a considerable though irregular breadth of the visible heaven, approached towards the sun, the darker they appeared, and in the vicinity of the sun, became entirely black. "At this elevation their course (speed) seemed to lessen, and a great many of them remained, as it were, STATIONARY; but they soon resumed their former, and accelerated motion, and passed in the same direction with great velocity and almost horizontally." E Acharius, North American Review, 3: 320-322, 1816 More   1836 Edgar Allan Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, the tubercular Virginia Clemm. (It's conjectured by some authorities that they were secretly married before this, on September 22, 1835.) 1837 Construction began on St Andrew's, the first Church of England cathedral in Australia (Sydney). 1866 The United States Congress eliminated the half dime coin and replaced it with the five cent piece, or nickel. 1866 Charles Elmer Hires invented root beer. 1868 President Andrew Johnson was acquitted during his impeachment trial, by one vote in the United States Senate. 1871 The Paris Commune, following the decree of April 12, destroyed the hated war memorial, the Vendôme Column ("monument de barbarie"). 1888 The first flat recording disc was demonstrated by Emile Berliner to the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, USA.     1891 Australia: Henry Lawson's poem 'Freedom on the Wallaby' was first published in William Lane's Worker (read the context of this poem: the Shearers' Strike of 1891). From Wikipedia: The last two stanzas of the poem were read out by Frederick Brentnall MP on July 15, 1891 in the Queensland Legislative Council during a 'Vote of Thanks' to the armed police who broke up the Barcaldine strike camp. There were calls in the chamber for Lawson's arrest for sedition. Lawson wrote a bitter rejoinder to Brentnall, 'The Vote of Thanks Debate'. The Rebel flag is the Eureka Flag that was first raised at the Eureka Stockade in 1854, above the Shearers' strike camp in 1891 and carried on the first Australian May Day march in Barcaldine on May 1, 1891. 'Freedom on the Wallaby' By Henry Lawson Australia's a big country An' Freedom's humping bluey, An' Freedom's on the wallaby Oh! don't you hear 'er cooey? She's just begun to boomerang, She'll knock the tyrants silly, She's goin' to light another fire And boil another billy. Our fathers toiled for bitter bread While loafers thrived beside 'em, But food to eat and clothes to wear, Their native land denied 'em. An' so they left their native land In spite of their devotion, An' so they came, or if they stole, Were sent across the ocean. Then Freedom couldn't stand the glare O' Royalty's regalia, She left the loafers where they were, An' came out to Australia. But now across the mighty main The chains have come ter bind her – She little thought to see again The wrongs she left behind her. Our parents toil'd to make a home – Hard grubbin 'twas an' clearin' – They wasn't crowded much with lords When they was pioneering. But now that we have made the land A garden full of promise, Old Greed must crook 'is dirty hand And come ter take it from us. So we must fly a rebel flag, As others did before us, And we must sing a rebel song And join in rebel chorus. We'll make the tyrants feel the sting O' those that they would throttle; They needn't say the fault is ours If blood should stain the wattle! Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson    Wattle Day, Australia   1910 The United States Congress authorised the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines. 1912 MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; 'ecstasy') patent was issued. 1918 US Congress passed the Sedition Act against radicals, penalising anyone judged to be hindering the war effort by making false statements, obstructing enlistment, or speaking against production of war materials, the American government, its constitution, or even its flag. Signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on May 21. 1919 US Navy Naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read departed Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight. 1920 In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonised Joan of Arc as a saint. Her feast day is June 18. 1926 Death of Mehmed VI, last Ottoman sultan. 1929 In Hollywood, California the first Academy Awards were presented, with the first Oscars given (though that name wasn't given to the statuettes until 1931). Wings was Best Picture, Emil Jannings Best Actor and Janet Gaynor Best Actress. 1943 Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto uprising ended. 1943 World War II: The Dambuster Raids by RAF 617 Sqdn on German dams. The Mohne and Eder dams in the Ruhr Valley, Nazi Germany's industrial heartland, were destroyed by bombs that skipped over the water like stones. 1948 Chaim Weizmann was elected as the first President of Israel. 1953 Bill Haley and his Comets hit the US Billboard music charts for the first time with 'Crazy, Man Crazy'. This was the first rock 'n' roll record to make that pop music chart. 1955 One of the most influential American film critics in the 1930s and '40s, American poet and novelist, James Agee, died in New York. 1960 Nikita Khrushchev demanded an apology from US President Dwight D Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris. 1960 A research study reported that TV commercials "in living color" are more than three times more effective than black and white commercials.   1966 The Communist Party of China issued the 'May 16 Notice', marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, in which up to 20 million people were killed and many millions more tortured and abused. Between 1966 and 1968, Mao Zedong encouraged Red Guards and rebels to take power from the Chinese Communist Party authorities of the state and to form revolutionary committees. In the chaos and violence that ensued, millions died and millions more were injured or imprisoned. "[T]he Chinese Communist Party's central committee issued a document, at the dictation of chairman Mao Zedong, summoning an assault on "reactionary bourgeois elements" and "poisonous weeds" lurking within the heart of the party. "Thus was the disastrous Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution launched.  "Nine days later, a poster was put up at the elite Beijing University denouncing bourgeois control of educational institutions. Within weeks, Red Guards had begun to act on these approved messages, beating their teachers and others formerly in authority, and Mao issued his own notorious poster on August 5 urging Chinese to 'Bombard the headquarters'.  "For 10 terrifying years, China was hurled into anarchy.  "Historians now say Mao launched the Cultural Revolution because he was losing his sole grip on economic policy following the Great Leap Forward, which he initiated in 1958.  "By then 72, and lacking a capacity to win his case within the party hierarchy by debate, he pursued a simple political solution: the denigration, incarceration and death of his rivals through smear.  "While Beijing-based writer Jasper Becker has convincingly established that the Great Leap caused 30 million to die by starvation, the numbers killed or hounded to suicide during the Cultural Revolution remain uncertain, and are estimated by academics at anything from two million to 20 million."   Source "For pure murderous evil, there has never been a force to compare with Communism. The Nazis didn't come close … the Nazis exterminated 11 million innocents; the Communist death toll surpasses 100 million. Nazi power lasted from 1933 to 1945. The Communist nightmare began in November 1917, and continues to this day."   Source "Lenin regarded his enemies as 'bloodsuckers' and 'noxious insects' … The authors' research offers a rough exposition of the crimes of communism: USSR, 20 million deaths; China, 65 million deaths; Vietnam, 1 million deaths; North Korea, 2 million deaths; Cambodia, 2 million deaths; Eastern Europe, 1 million deaths; Latin America, 150,000 deaths; Africa, 1.7 million deaths; Afghanistan, 1.5 million deaths; the international communist movement and communist parties not in power, about 10,000 deaths. "Communism compiled a lengthy enemies list, which included political parties, clergy, intellectuals, shopkeepers, many ethnic groups, and other 'socially dangerous elements.' Enemies were starved and worked to death; executed with bullets, shovels, and hammers; devoured by dogs; lit on fire; and made to kill one another for their capturers' amusement."   Source News on the 40th anniversary Four decades on, Cultural Revolution leaves indelible imprint on China Daily Times, Pakistan - 2 hours ago ... Because of its profound impact on China, the Cultural Revolution cannot remain a suppressed chapter in the nation's history, observers argue. AFP. Mao casts long shadow over China The day madness was unleashed China Digital Times Labels with Cultural Revolution Posters, Badges, and History Morning Sun - A Film and Website about Cultural Revolution Another website about the Cultural Revolution Attempts to document using eyewitness accounts events during the Cultural Revolution Chinese propaganda posters, Cultural Revolution statuettes, maoist stuff and revolutionary songs   1966 Two extremely influential rock albums were released on the same day: Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Blonde on Blonde is a folk rock album, generally believed to be the rock and roll genre's first double album. Pet Sounds, long regarded as the masterpiece of composer-producer Brian Wilson, has been hailed as one of the best and most influential albums in popular music, and many leading critics cite it as the best pop album ever made. However: "Even the album's original release date remains in doubt; while Columbia reports an official date of May 16, 1966, several Dylan discographers have challenged the date, seeing as the album only charted on the Billboard 200 for the week ending July 23, a full two months after the May release date."   Wikipedia (thank you, Almaniac Peerke) Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list 1968 May 1968, Paris: The upheaval of rebellion (or was it revolution?) in Paris continued, with universities, factories, and workplaces shut down or occupied. Forums, going 24-hours a day, emerged, open to all. 1969 Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, landed on Venus. 1969 Pete Townshend was imprisoned for kicking a policeman offstage at a New York Who concert. 1969 John Lennon, declared 'an inadmissible immigrant to the US', sought a visa to visit America. Ten days previously his 'standing visa' was revoked by the US Embassy in London because of his drug conviction the previous November. 1975 India annexed Sikkim. 1975 Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 1980 Dr George Nickopoulous was indicted in Memphis for over-prescribing drugs to eleven patients, including Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list 1983 Diana Ross and the Supremes reunited for a Motown Records 25th birthday party.   1985 American actress Margaret Hamilton (b. 1902), most famous for her role as the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, died of a heart attack, aged 82. 1987 Bobro 400, a huge barge, set sail within eyesight of the Statue of Liberty, New York, with 3,200 tons of garbage nobody wanted. The floating refuse heap soon became America's most well-travelled garbage can as it began an eight-week, 6,000 mile Odyssey in search of a willing dumping site. 1988 A report by United States Surgeon General C Everett Koop (b. 1916) stated that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine. 1988 California v. Greenwood: In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that police officers do not need a search warrant to search through discarded garbage. 1990 Death of Muppets and Sesame Street creator, Jim Henson (b. 1936). 1989 The first successful hole-in-the-heart operation on an adult was performed on 66-year-old Eileen Molyneaux at the Brook Hospital, London. 1992 STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour landed safely after a successful maiden voyage.   1997 President Bill Clinton apologized on behalf of the United States of America, for the Tuskegee syphilis study, carried out by Tuskegee Institute, the African-American university founded by Booker T Washington. In the notorious human experiment, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932 - 1972), 400 poor, mostly illiterate black sharecroppers from Tuskegee, Alabama became part of a study on the treatment of syphilis without their full knowledge, and were allowed to suffer and even die from the disease when treatment could have been given them. From Wikipedia: The study was originally started as a study on the effectiveness of contemporary treatments (including Salvarsan, mercurial ointments and bismuth) which were considered harmful and ineffective, and an attempt to show that non-treatment was less harmful. By 1947, penicillin had been recognized as a safe and effective treatment for syphilis, yet the remaining members of the Tuskegee group of patients were allowed to sicken and die for another twenty-five years, and some were even actively blocked from effective treatments to allow scientists to study syphilis damage post mortem to better understand how the disease spreads and kills. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was terminated in 1972, when it was exposed in the press. CDC Tuskegee Syphilis Study timeline    CDC Tuskegee Syphilis Study Page University of Virginia: The Troubling Legacy Of The Tuskegee Syphilis Study NPR: Remembering Tuskegee: Syphilis Study Still Provokes Disbelief, Sadness Internet Resources on the Tuskegee Study     "To persuade the community to support the experiment, one of the original doctors admitted it 'was necessary to carry on this study under the guise of a demonstration and provide treatment.' At first, the men were prescribed the syphilis remedies of the day – bismuth, neoarsphenamine, and mercury  – but in such small amounts that only 3 percent showed any improvement.  "These token doses of medicine were good public relations and did not interfere with the true aims of the study. Eventually, all syphilis treatment was replaced with 'pink medicine' – aspirin." Using Human Beings as Laboratory Animals 2003 In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians were killed and more than 100 people injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks. 2005 Kuwait permitted women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote. A world chronology of women's suffrage   Tomorrow: Nauru, island of guano, Australia's offshore jail    Main calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search     Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research. I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude. © My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply. Read more about today at Wilson's Blogmanac

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