corrigenda

• noun:  a list of printing errors in a book along with their corrections
• See corrigendum

What a shame

A tagboard spammer in the USA started a vendetta against me when I challenged his hacking.

I told him he would have trouble sleeping, and that really seemed to get under his skin (maybe he has some rudimentary conscience). When I reported him to his ISP, he created a website that says that Wilson's Almanac gave him a virus. (It's nonsense, of course, just a mean kid.) He has even threatened to remove Wilson's Almanac permanently from the Net. For some months I have known his full name and address so if he does that, he could end up in prison. I would certainly spread his details widely across the Internet – it's only me silly soft heart that has prevented me from doing so since October, 2005.

So the tagboard is broken and, sadly, removed. Thanks to the people who used to use it. I really enjoyed hearing from you.

Sleep well, Matt.

Meanwhile, please email me instead.

Newest amendments at top

A note about the dating of items in Wilson’s Almanac

March 19, 2010 Reader Patrick Neas writes: "I love your almanack!! FYI, the feast of Blessed (not saint!) Fra Angelico is February 18 not March 18." You're quite correct, thank you, Patrick, and I've made the changes, and added more info on B. Fra Angelico. Thank you, all who, like Patrick, politely correct and instruct your almanackist.

April 23, 2008 The name of the cross-dressing ship's steward (This day in history, 1792) was Marie-Louise Victoire Girardin, not as previously spelt.

March 21, 2008 Moved the Jamestown massacre from Mar 22 to Apr 19 for reasons explained at the latter.

Nov 28, 2007 Moved the birth date of John Bunyan from Nov 30 to Nov 28, 1628.

Oct 2 Moved death of Mark Antony from Aug 30 to Aug 1, 30 BCE.

Sep 28 I moved Ariel Sharon's d.o.b. from Feb 26 to Feb 27, 1928. Getting sick of this!

Apr 11 I moved the birthday of Ariel Sharon to February 26, 1928. Formerly I had it at both February 27 and September 27!

Apr 6, 2006 I moved the birthday of Peter Tosh from April 6 to October 9, to accord with Wikipedia and IMDB.

Oct 5 According to the rather authoritative Gavin Souter (A Peculiar People: The Australians in Paraguay, Sydney Univ. Press, 1968), the Royal Tar set sail from Sydney, Australia on July 16, 1893, not July 17 which I had, and which some other sources give, so I moved it at great expense to the management (ie, changes to lots of links elsewhere). As Souter says they sailed on a Sunday afternoon, his date tallies with the 1893 calendar.

Sep 3 Moved the goddess Medetrina and her festival the Meditrinalia from October 11 to September 30, apparently her main day of three.

Sept 26 Moved first reading of Ginsberg's 'Howl' from October 13 to October 7. Still uncertain, though.

May 25  I had some anachronistic info about Agnodice and Herophilus at May 25, 350 BCE. Removed.

May 20  I moved Botev Day (Bulgaria) from May 20 to June 2 to allow for calendar change from Old Style to NS. I'm still uncertain I've got it right.

May 10  I had to shift the first appearance of Felix the Cat in a newspaper strip from May 9, 1927, to August 1, 1923.

Mar 31  Moved Che Guevara's DoB from June 14 to May 14, where I explain why. It seems his ma lied on the birth certificate.

Mar 13  Moved the birth date of Omar Khayyam from May 15 to May 18, and adjusted his death date as well. Both are approximations.

Mar 9  The completion of the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem, moved from March 10 to March 12, 515 BCE.

Feb 20, 2005  A correspondent named Mike writes, "Thank you for an excellent resource on the similarities between Christ and the
pagan divinities. Your first page shows a graphic depiction of Dionysus dying on the cross. This appears to be the same graphic image you have on the next page. But there it claims to show Orpheus. What gives?"

My reply: What gives is that your correspondent is a knucklehead. Many thanks for pointing out my error, now corrected.

Dec 11 Charles Wesley was born in 1707, not 1757 as I had it on December 11 for the past year or so. Sorry, Chicka.

Nov 15 I moved Shichi-Go San ('7-5-3') Ceremony, Japan from November 3 to November 15 where it belongs. Ain't me good?

Oct 1 How did I have Roger Bannister's sub-4-minute mile anywhere else but May 6, 1954? It's there now, moved from March 18, and with some new information about an alleged 18th-century sub-4 guy, James Parrot.

Sep 13 I have removed the 1440 date of execution of Gilles de Rais (Bluebeard) from December 22 and will replace at October 26.

Aug 31 Moved the date of death of Daniel Defoe from April 26 to April 24. Sources disagree on date; Wikipedia's article has April 21.

Aug 11 Shifted Mayan New Year from July 21 which was there because of a date I saw in The Mystical Year, Time-Life Books, but, according to Wikipedia, August 11 seems to be correct, so there it is. Apologies to those who've seen it 'repeated'. I should add that I've seen about 5 different dates for this event in different sources. August 11 groks better than July, since August 12 was the Aztecs' solar alignment at Tenochtitlan (also approx. halfway through the season), but I confess I need help here. He-e-e-e-lllpppp!!!!

Jul 29 Until today I had placed (after Chambers) the disappearance of Don Sebastian of Portugal at July 29, 1578. Moving it to August 4 (after Wikipedia).

Jul 20 Mama Cass was born on September 19, 1941. Why did I say February 19, 1943? Beats the hell outta me.

Jul 19 Nativity of Inanna: moved from December 21 to January 2 in accord with the Lux Madriana calendar, after Fellowship of Isis, though I have my doubts about this date, and the authority of LM and FI in this matter as well. Caveat emptor: often such dates are quite arbitrary.

Jul 18 Bishop Ussher apparently set the date of creation of the Earth at October 23, 4004 BCE, not November 23 as I had. Now there's a date I wouldn't want to get wrong.

Jul 13 William Gosse's 'discovery' of Ayer's Rock (Uluru): July 19, 1873, not April 23. That was the date his expedition left Alice Springs.

Jul 1 Sources vary as to the date of Ned Kelly's Last Stand. Some say June 28, some June 29, though all seem to agree that it happened on a Monday morning. I've checked and double checked and have moved it from the 29th to June 28.

Jun 10 Thanks to a message left here by Myrrhina, an Almaniac from Ohio, USA, I'm shifting the birth date of Tenzin Gyatso, HH the Dalai Lama No 14, from June 6, 1935, to July 6. A Google of the matter agrees with her ... mostly. The June 4 date is given on some sources, but most concur with Myrrhina. Thank you, Ohio! Same mistake as the Beatles one, below LOL. Just a note, that Wikipedia's article also had June 6, but some time in the past year has amended it to July 6. Maybe our pal Myrrhina told'em!

Jun 6 July 6, 1957 is the date that Paul McCartney met John Lennon at the St Phillips Church fete at Woolton, not June 6 as I had.

Mar 23 I have moved the date on which Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty or give me death", from Feb 23, 1775 to Mar 23, on the advice of several online sources.

Jan 23 Saint Raymond of Peñafort His feast day, which I got from Chambers (1881), was January 23, I believe. It's probably been moved by the Catholic Church since 1881 and appears now to be January 7, where now he sits in the Book of Days.

Jan 23 Last year, did I say Edmund Burke was English? I'll get lynched by every Irish reader on the Net!! Fixed. And I've shifted his birthday from Jan 23 to Jan 12 ... it's one of them OS (Old Style) calendar things that always come up with people born before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar when 11 days were 'lost'. This happened in 1752 in Britain and I think Ireland.

Jan 22 Leadbelly: Some sources have the great blues artist's birthday as January 21. That's where I've had him before now. Wikipedia and a prominent Leadbelly website say January 29, so that's where he's going.

Jan 16, 2004 The Lênaia: I had this Greek festival to Dionysus pegged at Jan 15 (following The Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar which is a work of love but only a rough guide at best). I'll be putting it in at Jan 28 from now on, following this apparently well-researched source.

Also today, and in a kind of reversal to the above, I've amended the birth date of Susan Sontag from Jan 28, 1933 to Jan 16, because Wikipedia and one other source showed me I must be wrong.

Dec 22 Based on the information from School of the Seasons that Modresnach (Mothers' Night) was referred to by the Venerable Bede as being on December 24, I have moved it from December 20 where I'd first placed my short article.

Dec 11 Would you believe it? Somehow in the ezine of today I said that the Halcyon Days of the ancient world started on December 11. This should be December 14, as it was the week preceding and week following the Winter Solstice.

Dec 8 I had in my notes for December 9: "1531 The Virgin of Guadalupe appears to Indian boy, Mexico." Quite wrong. The actual matter about Juan Diego is now at December 9. I also had some confusion about Guadalupe Day in some places. The Feast of St Juan Diego is Dec. 9, the Virgin of Guadalupe is three days later.

Dec 8, 2003 Two links, http://www.bhopal-justice.com/deception.htm and http://www.bhopal-justice.com/ that I gave on December 3, 2003, appear to have been hacked and are no longer pointing to a website about justice for Bhopal, India victims of Union Carbide. Links on December 7 were pointing to some silly site. Links removed. Thanks to the reader who alerted me ... I accidentally dumped your email, so have lost your name.

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