Back in the U.S.S.R

Today in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed. This is despite the fact that the Socialist revolution had taken place in October 1917. It stayed the USSR until December 26, 1991.

A new hope!

I hope that you all are having fun over the holiday period and those of you that celebrate it had a lovely Christmas and got lots of nice presents.

Today in 1978 Spain adopted a new constitution(pictured left) and became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.

Merry Christmas everyone....

....wherever you are in the galaxy!!!!!

Santa claus is coming to town!

Today in 1823 the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore was published. Here is a snippet:-

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads'

Good stuff, so you had better be good for goodness sake.

Its also Harry Shearer aka Derek Smalls birthday, however you might know him better for his voice work on the Simpsons where he plays Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, Kent Brockman, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Principal Skinner, Otto Mann and Rainier Wolfcastle.

The Old Pretender

On this day in 1715 James Stuart, the "Old Pretender", landed at Petershead after his exile in France. He had tried to get back to Scotland in an attempt to reclaim the Scottish crown but it was too late. The key Battle of Sherrifmuir (near Dunblame) had taken place earlier that year on 13th November. It is said that if you go out walking at night in the fields around Sherrifmuir you can still see the ghostly Jacobite soldiers walking around.

The Battle was the subject of one of the most famous songs written by Robert Burns called 'The Battle of Sherramuir'.

Happy holidays to everyone that finished school today too.

Flight 103

Today was a dark day in Scotland's recent past, In1988 a Pan Am jumbo jet with 259 passengers on board crashed on to the town of Lockerbie near the Scottish borders.

In total 259 people aboard the flight and 11 on the ground died in the crash which took place 38 minutes after take-off.

If you would like to find out more about this then the link below is a good starting place. The disaster still shapes foreign relations to this day and the release of one of the people found guilty of the bombing was a huge issue for Scotland's politicians this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/scotland/2002/lockerbie_appeal/

Every time a bell rings....

Today in 1946 the Frank Capra film "It's A Wonderful Life" had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its "official" world premiere. James Stewart and Donna Reed star in the film and guess what I am going to see it tonight in Glasgow.

My recent posts have a real Christmas theme, I can't help but get caught up in the festive spirit.