Lets play darts!

Tonight is the Darts BDO World Championships final on BBC 2 where Dave 'Chizzy' Chisnall will meet Martin 'Wolfie' Adams.

Darts is believed to have a long tradition within the the UK. As far as the origins of the game are concerned, javelins, crossbow bolts and archery have all been considered. Of these the most likely scenario is that the game has its roots in archery, according to Patrick Chaplin PhD (aka Doctor Darts). He states that 'Indeed, glance back to the earliest type of dartboards and you will see that these were concentric targets – miniature forms of the archery target. Moreover, darts is most commonly known as "arrows." Some would say that these two points alone are sufficient to confirm the sports heritage.'

So if you have the Sunday blues then switch on BBC 2 tonight at 5:45pm to be warmed by the crowd and the excitement of the lakeside.

Pitt the younger

Today in 1799 British prime minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax, at two shillings (10p) in the pound, to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.

Pitt the Younger was so called to distinguish him from his father who had also been Prime Minister. Pitt the younger was just 24 when he became Prime Minister.

Enjoy the snow, I myself think Ill go play in the park before it turns to slush.

Two for one!

What about this weather eh? I hope you are all making sure that you wrap up warm.

While on the subject of cool things (like the temperature, get it? Oh well suit yourself), it is the birthday of two of my all time favourite music artists. The King himself Elvis Presley and the thin white Duke David Bowie! Both of these men were pioneers and changed pop culture and attitudes along the way. Happy Birthday Boys.

Have a great weekend.

By the rings of Saturn!

Today in 1610 Galileo Galilei sighted four of Jupiter's moons. He named them Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher and is considered by many to be the “Father of Modern Science". To find out more about one of the most interesting Itlaians that there ever lived click on the link below and shame on all of you that only knew the name thanks to a part in a Queen song.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/galilei_galileo.shtml

Let's hear it for the girl!

Today in 1412 Joan of Arc was born. Joan asserted that she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War.

She was a military hero in France but despite this she became a catholic martyr when she was burned alive for heresy. There has been several films made of her life the most recent being The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc by French director Luc Besson.

Nearly back to school!

Oh well it is getting nearer and nearer the end of this particular set of holidays but the good news is it wont be long before the next one comes along.

Louis Braille, the inventor of braille a worldwide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing, was born today in 1809.

In 1821, Charles Barbier, a Captain in the French Army, visited Louis' school. Barbier shared his invention called 'night writing' a code of 12 raised dots and a number of dashes that let soldiers share top-secret information on the battlefield without having to speak. The code was too difficult for Louis to understand and he later changed the number of raised dots to 6 to form what we today call Braille.

Happy new year!

So here we are in 2010! I hope it is a good one for you.

Although we all know that yesterday was new years day this was not always the case. Previously we celebrated new year in March. Scotland changed to January 1st in 1600 whilst the rest of the UK finally came round to this way of thinking in 1752. We now use what is known as the Gregorian calendar. If you type this into a search engine you will find out lots of interesting stories about it's adoption throughout Europe, I actually can't believe how interesting this little slice of history is.

Happy new year!