Month: July 2022

05
Jul
2022

TUESDAY after Independence Day

Today is Tynwald Day on the Isle of Man. It is a public holiday and marks the annual outdoor sitting of the Manx Parliament – the Tynwald. There is no representation from the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom parliament and UK laws do not automatically apply in the Isle of Man. Tynwald makes the laws which are given final approval by the Queen. Tynwald meets regularly during the year, with an outdoor session held on July 5th at St. John’s. The main event on Tynwald day is the promulgation of acts as each act of Tynwald must be promulgated on Tynwald Hill within 18 months of enactment. On Tynwald Day any person may approach Tynwald Hill and present a Petition for Redress. The Petitions can be taken up by members of Tynwald and put to the parliament. Many pieces of legislation in the Isle of Man have been passed using this process.

What could go wrong…

Today is the birthday, in 1943, of Robbie Robertson, Canadian musician, songwriter, film composer, producer and actor. He was lead guitarist for The Band and as a songwriter, Robertson is credited for writing ‘The Weight’, ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, ‘Up on Cripple Creek’, ‘Broken Arrow’ and ‘Somewhere Down the Crazy River’.

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies
01
Jul
2022

FRIDAYfridayFRIDAY…and so forth

Today is Sir Seretse Khama Day in Botwsana (a wonderful country!) This holiday commemorates the first President of Botswana on the anniversary of his birth on this day in 1921. Khama was training as a barrister in London after the Second World War, where he met and married Ruth Williams, a white English commoner. The story of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams was depicted in the 2016 film, ‘A United Kingdom’.

His marriage caused great difficulties for him at home and he was exiled in 1951. The apartheid government of South Africa put pressure on Britain to remove Khama’s chieftainship. A judicial inquiry declared him to be perfectly fit for the job, but this was hushed up to appease the South Africans. Khama returned to Bechuanaland (now Botwsana) in 1956 as a private citizen. He formed the Bechuanaland Democratic Party, won the elections and led the way to independence, becoming his country’s first President. He remained in the post until his death, aged only 59, in 1980. He created a multiracial democratic society and is considered as one of the great successes of this era of African politics.

I always though it was something like that…

Not sure about this…

Today is the birthday, in 1945, of Deborah Harry, American singer, songwriter, and actress with Blondie who scored five UK No.1 singles including the 1979 UK & US No.1 single ‘Heart Of Glass’ and the 1978 world-wide No.1 album Parallel Lines. As a solo artists she scored the 1986 UK No. 8 single ‘French Kissing In The USA’. A former Playboy Bunny, her acting career spans over thirty film roles and numerous television appearances.

Posted by Tom in Humor, Music, sixties and seventies