Shocks

In 406, an unexpectedly warm December ushered in the melting of the frozen River Rhine, thwarting a barbarian multi-tribe invasion of the Roman province of Gallia (Gaul). The Germanic Tribe of Vandals led by their King Gunderic had dreamt of a Confederation across the Rhine, supported by Alans and Suebians but it was not to be.

Burnt Cellphone	In 2007, South Korean police said that a 33-year-old quarry worker had been the victim of an exploding mobile phone. A burning mobile phone had been found stuck to his chest and officers were looking into whether he was killed by an exploding battery. Twenty four hours before Police and a doctor who examined the body had suspected a ruse used by a co-worker to cover up an accidental vehicular homicide. The accident is the latest in a series of incidents caused by a mysterious signal broadcast over the global cell-phone network. Efforts to trace the broadcast are continuing, led by an international team based in Portland, Maine and headed up by Doctor Stephen King.
Evidence

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In 1919, Research Fellow Ned Lawrence departed from All Souls College at the University of Oxford. Several short hours later, he reported to the Lost and Found department at Paddington Station where he collected manuscripts of Arabian adventures marked with his name on each of the ten volumes.

Ronald Reagan

In 2003, on this day the compendium “A Collection of Political Counterfactuals” was published. Simon Burns' masterful entry "What if John Hinckley, Jr. had missed?" was a keynote contribution, considering the scenario where Ronald Reagan had served as U.S. president until 1989. Missing Reagan’s heart by less than one inch, the bullet instead pierced his left lung, which likely spared his life. In the operating room, Reagan joked to the surgeons, "I hope you're all Republicans" (though they were not, Dr. Joseph Giordano replied, "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans"). Reagan later famously told his wife, "Honey, I forgot to duck" (borrowing Jack Dempsey's line to his wife). On April 12, Nancy Reagan escorted the President home from the hospital.

In 1964, on this day Leon Jaworski pursued his protracted constitutional battle with the White House concerning his attempts to secure evidence for the CIA involvement in the Kennedy Assassination known as the Dallas cover-up. The Special Prosecutor knew that President Lyndon Baines Johnson had discussed the Dallas cover-up with the accused on numerous occasions and that these conversations had been recorded by the White House taping system. Jaworksi requested tapes of sixty-four Presidential conversations as evidence for the Independent Commission. The President refused to hand them over, citing executive privilege. Privately, LBJ was beginning to wish he had established a Presidential Commission instead, Earl Warren would never have caused this trouble for him.

Kennedy

Eden

In 1967, former British Prime Minister Anthony Eden published his auto-biography. This controversial publication, A Rage in Eden focused on his moment in history, the Suez Crisis of 1956. Serialised in the Times, the first instalment described Eden's initial response to the nationalisation of the Suez Canal by President Abdul Gamal Nasser - screaming “I want him destroyed”. Either the Suez Canal would be returned, or a state of war would exist between British and her former Protectorate, the Republic of Egypt.

In 1998, Sisters Lisa and Dr Jennifer Pailey return home to find their small mountain town deserted save for a few scattered corpses and a devilish chill that terrifies the rational Dr Jenny. Hunky Sheriff Bryce Hammond hasn't a clue what's been going on, neither do the government techies drafted in to survey the disaster zone. Only one man can solve the mystery. Enter supernatural specialist, Dr Timothy Flyte. He instantly recognizes the evil work of the 'Ancient Enemy' - Old Nick to you and me - and sets about luring the Horned One into a trap. Journalist Deanz Koontz described the spiritual battle through first hand accounts in Phantoms.

Message from Ancient Enemy

Not for Turning

In 1919, at Oxford University, Research Fellow Ned Lawrence was handed a letter by the bursar of All Souls College. “Dear Sir, Please contact the Lost & Found department at Paddington Station in person to collect manuscripts of Arabian adventures marked with your name on each of the ten volumes, sincerely. &c. &c.”

Breitling

In 2021, from the Canton of Jura watchmaker Breitling launched a Certified Chronometer designed primarily for aviation use on the planet Mars. Mars’ average distance from the Sun is roughly 230 million km (1.5 AU) and its orbital period is 687 (Earth) days. The solar day (or sol) on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. A Martian year is equal to 1.8809 Earth years, or 1 year, 320 days, and 18.2 hours.

In the 1940s, Breitling added a circular slide rule to the bezel of their chronograph models for use by aircraft pilots. This became the famous Navitimer model. During the 1950s and 1960s, a version of the Navitimer was offered by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association with the AOPA logo on the dial. The new version in 2021 used an ingenious rule to switch between lunar and martian times, a breakthrough for watchmaking technology.

Thatcher

In 2003, on this day the compendium “A Collection of Political Counterfactuals” was published. Simon Burns' masterful entry "What if Patrick Magee had failed?" was a keynote contribution, considering the scenario where Margaret Thatcher survived the 1984 bomb explosion in the Grand Hotel, Brighton and served as British Prime Minister until 1997. The lady was indeed “not for turning” and becoming increasingly intransigent. In the fictional scenario, Thatcher beats the Miners strike, refuses to authorise the European Communities Act in 1985 or the join the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1990. Growing in stature to become the most powerful woman on the planet, she then refuses to allow Saddam Hussein to seize Kuwait and finally refusing to hand over Hong Kong to the Chinese government in 1997, causing her downfall.

Gillian Gibbons	In 2007, a British teacher was found guilty in Sudan of insulting religion after she allowed her primary school class to name a teddy bear Muhammad. The court in Khartoum have ordered Mrs Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, to receive 40 lashes for committing the offences. She had been accused on three counts of insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. The British Foreign Office said it was extremely disappointed by the verdict. “I have called in the Sudanese ambassador this evening to discuss next steps” said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
British Teacher

Miliband said he was also "extremely disappointed" the charges had not been dismissed and repeated his view that it had been an "innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher". "Our priority now is to ensure Ms Gibbons' welfare, and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her. As a minimum the British Government will insist upon post-medical treatment following the punishment." he said.

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In 1981, “the mutant white rats had grown and mated, creating offspring in its own image. They dominated the others, the dark-furred ones, who foraged for food and brought it back to the lair. Now the dark rats were restless, tormented by a craving they could not satisfy. But the white slug like thing that ruled them knew. Its two heads weaved to and fro and a stickiness drooled from its mouth as it remembered the taste of human flesh..." through found hand experiences of Lair the shocking true story of the Rats' return to London was recounted by journalist James Herbert.

James Herbert

Anthony G. Williams	In 1936, in London the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire. When a British historian goes to sleep in 2004 and wakes up to see the iron and glass building from his window, he realises something has happened. He convinces the powers that be that war is coming for which Britain will be inadequately prepared and in so doing initiates an altered and more thorough strategic purpose in British re-armament. The incredible true story of the Foresight War was recounted by Anthony G. Williams himself later that year.

In 1943, at the Tehran Conference U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin establish an agreement on Operation Overlord. The planned June 1944 invasion of China will proceed, and Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek stopped in his bid for Asian conquest.

Chiang Kai-Shek

Falling Apart

In 1963, FBI Director J Edgar Hoover, President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Chief Justice Earl Warren met in the Oval Office. The trio studied notes from an interview with Marvin Lee Aday in which the young man described how he, a friend and his friend's father, drove out to Love Field to watch John F. Kennedy land. After watching him leave the airport, they decided to head to Market Hall which was on Kennedy's parade route. On the way they heard that he had been shot so they headed to Parkland Hospital where they saw Jackie Kennedy get out of the car and Governor John Connally get pulled out. Then they saw a very much alive Kennedy taken out and smuggled into a private car.

In 1952, President-elect Adlai Stevenson fulfilled an election campaign pledge to visit Korea in an effort to find an end to the bitter civil war raging in the small Asian nation. His opponent Dwight David Eisenhower had electrified the country just before the election by promising to personally go to Korea and end that stalemated conflict, a pledge which Stevenson had matched. Characteristically, he arrived at one but his smart alec solutions that led to his impeachment in 1956.

Partition Map	In 1947, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine or United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 was announced. Palestine followed India in suffering the agony of partition following a British withdrawal.

in 1952, Eisenhower had made Joe McCarthy his running mate, MacArthur's campaign had fallen apart and the result was Stevenson winning the nomination. All three candidates had promised to go to Korea to find out what could be done to end the conflict. On this day the U.S. President-elect fulfilled that campaign promise. Arriving in the war-zone, his secret plan to end the conflict was immeasurably different from the two other candidates. In The Impeachment of Adlai Stevenson journalist David Gerrold examined how six years of intelligent decisions provoked Congressional uproar.	Adlai Stevenson

T.E. Lawrence

In 1963, FBI Director J Edgar Hoover, President John F Kennedy and Chief Justice Earl Warren met in the Oval Office. Agenda: to agree the action plan for the Presidential Commission into the assassination attempt on the President which occurred just a week before. Kennedy re-iterated that if a CIA plot was discovered, he really would smash the agency into a thousand pieces this time. Hoover could not agree more, he wanted a super-agency from which he could control both domestic and foreign intelligence services. The provisional title for the new super-agency was Homeland Security; Hoover felt the name had a good ring to it.

In 1947, General Assembly invited Arab Palestine to join the United Nations as a sovereign nation. The Palestine Plan was denounced by Zionists worldwide. In New York, protests are led by David Green and former Commander of the British Eighth Army, Colonel T.E. Lawrence who had promised Aaron Aaronsohn that Eretz Israel would get his voice after the war.	Lawrence

Letting Rip

In 1786, Rip Van Winkle stumbles into the city of New York, attempting to find this imposter, George Washington, who had supplanted the rightful rule of King George. He had been told that the capital of these United States was in New York City, the old New Amsterdam. He strode the streets like a ghost from another world, his long gray hair and beard giving him the appearance of an ancient wizard risen and seeking something in this new country that had been ripped from him. He stopped in a shop to replace the flintlock that had rusted beside him in the hills, but his money did not match this new land's. He attacked and killed the shopkeeper in his anger, and the young son of the shopkeeper, a boy named Washington, incensed the old man as well. He shot the child, and was surprised to find himself fading away...

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Kennedy

In 1979, Stanley Shapiro wrote the fourth in a series of articles entitled A Time to Remember in which the journalist was sharply critical of post-Vietnam Foreign Policy. Better for the US to have been humbled by the war in Vietnam and then this ultra-belligerance would have been nipped in the bud, and Westmoreland sent off into a quiet retirement was Shapiro's view.

Shapiro suggested that an altered history required a correction. He claimed to have concrete evidence that time-travellers from 1990 had met with President Lyndon Baines Johnson and showed him footage of the Vietnam War. Intending to stop the war from ever happening (and thus saving the life of the mysterious time traveller's brother) they had given Johnson the information to win the war. Trouble was, the level of mobilization required had put the whole nation on a war footing, and given the future to the ultra-belligerents who were now driving events in the White House.

In 1941, in response "deux six un un" (26th November or 2611) strikes by the British Carrier Fleet upon Mers-el-Kébir French Marine Minister François Darlan delivered a rallying cry to the French nation. This "day of infamy" must be avenged by a united French nation, who should support the Vichy Government in fighting alongside the Germans to defeat Perfidious Albion

Alternate Historian says, Have you figured out yet which Washington Rip Van Winkle shot? :-)

Snakeyes

In 1963, the strange being known as Snake Eyes entered closing mode as the number of critical issues was at last diminishing. Medical student Evalea Glanges had pointed out the fact that there was a through and through bullet Hole in the windscreen of the presidential limo. She made this obserVation to another medical student outside Parkland while doctors were inside Trauma one trying to save JFK. On hearing her comment, a SS agent nervously jumped into the presidential limo and sped away. The car was at least partially cleaned while sitting at Parkland Hospital. No record of any evidence found at this time was kept. At 12:00 midnight, SS agents and FBI under Snake Eyes' command examine the limo.

Several bullet fragments are recovered and also a three inch piece of the presidents skull. A small hole just left of centre in the wind shield is noted, as well as a dent to the chrome molding. Carl Renas, head of security for the Dearborn Div. of Ford Motor co. drives the limo from Wash. D.C. to Cincinnati.Renas notes several bullet holes, the most notable in the chrome strip. He believes that it is a "primary strike, not fragmentary damage." The Secret Service tell Renas to"keep your mouth shut." Renas recalled thinking at the time"Something is wrong here."The chrome strip is replaced, and the entire vehicle is rebuilt. The preceding passage was quoted loosely from Charles Crenshaws work,"JFK-Conspiracy of Silence"

In 1980, “it came like a malignant shadow with seductive promises of power. And somewhere in the night... a small girl smiled as her mother burned... asylum inmates slaughtered their attendants... in slimy tunnels once- human creatures gathered. Madness raged as the lights began to fade and humanity was attacked by an ancient, unstoppable evil..." Through found hand experiences of The Dark the truth story was was recounted by journalist James Herbert from his first hand experiences.

James Herbert

Goldwater

In 1963, with the assassination of John F Kennedy, the Republican party sense an opportunity. Instead of confronting a popular one-term President, they have instead only to beat Lyndon Baines Johnson. One of the nominees being considered is Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Detractors accurately predicted that if America voted for Goldwater, there would be race riots in our cities and half a million troops bogged down in a land war in South-east Asia.

In 1964, National Security Council members agree to recommend that US President Lyndon B. Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in South Vietnam. Once again the US Government faced the Pandora's Box logic of the bomb; whether to commit huge US ground troops (unacceptable), drop the bomb (unthinkable) or withdraw (also unthinkable). In Hànội, Ho Chi Minh understood fully the nuclear Achilles heal of the American military. A firm ally since the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, Minh offered additional assistance to effect regime change, and rid the world of Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his younger brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu.

Lyndon

Redux

In 1786, Rip Van Winkle awoke to find an old firelock lying by him, the barrel incrusted with rust, the lock falling off. There was no sign of “Wolf” his dog, nor the band of strangers. Perhaps the grave roysters of the mountain had put a trick upon him, and having dosed him with liquor, had robbed him of his gun.

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In 2007, the Jackson 7 will tour in 2008 with Janet Jackson, announced her brother Jermaine. Rumours about a possible reunion of the pop legends has been rife for some time, culminating in claims from promoter Leonard Rowe recently that live dates were being planned. Jermaine Jackson has now given the clearest indication yet that the comeback is on and will take place next year, featuring their most famous member. "Janet will be involved. We want to tour. We want to touch the lives of everybody who's bought our records and supported us. "It will probably start here first, but it will be sometime in 2008. That's our plan", he told the BBC in a new interview. The last album from the Jackson 7 - Janet, La Toya, Michael, Jermaine, Marlon, Tito and Jackie - was "2300 Jackson Street" in 1989.

Kennedy

In 1979, Stanley Shapiro wrote the third in a series of articles entitled A Time to Remember in which the journalist was sharply critical of post-Vietnam Foreign Policy. Better for the US to have been humbled by the war in Vietnam and then this ultra-belligerance would have been nipped in the bud, and Westmoreland sent off into a quiet retirement was Shapiro's view.

The build-up of Soviet troops on the Afganistan border was well underway, and the United States had began sending aid to anti-Soviet, Afghan Islamist factions on July 3, 1979. In Shapiro's view, a military standoff was fast arriving, and the belligerance of the US Leadership would force a confrontation, perhaps a nuclear one. Kennedy's crisis management skills would have been prevented such an outcome, as he demonstrated over his careful management of the Cuban missiles crisis. Trouble was, he had made too many enemies in the military, and it is was these individuals who were now driving events in the White House.

Monty on the Rhine

In 2000, Douglas Niles and and Michael Dobson published Monty on the Rhine. In this the counterfactual novel the July 1944 bomb plot failed to kill Hitler. The plotters are rounded up and executed. Meanwhile, Hitler continues a two-front war and fires German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. A resurgent Bernard Montgomery triumphs at a very different Battle of the Bulge.

Hobos	In 1963, the strange being known as Snake Eyes entered closing mode as the number of critical issues was at last diminishing. The “three Hobos” who formed the first cross fire team included CIA Master Agent E. Howard Hunt. A double had been sent to a Washington Trial and therefore Snake Eyes had an alibi. The other two Hobos were already buried in the Texan desert. Snake Eyes instructed officers to very publicly march three vagrants out the Dallas Police Head quarters, this problem required false evidence to be placed.

in 1973, Gerald Ford was confirmed as the new Vice President of the United States, almost exactly ten years to the day since he had been appointed to the Warren Commission. Ford had travelled with Justice Earl Warren and other commission members for a series of private meetings in Dallas with Jack Ruby during June of 1964. Ruby predicted "a whole new form of government is going to take over this country, and I know I won't live to see you another time”. A fundamentally honest man, Ford had decided there and then that he would make a bid for the White House and stop the military-industrial complex in its tracks. Whilst he would later appear weak in his response to the Fall of Saigon, Ford saw clearly that the dystopian future predicted by Ruby had been avoided. Whilst the American people did not re-elect him, they did turn instead to Jimmy Carter a decent man of the same mindset.	Ford

Goldwater	In 1965, the Pentagon tells U.S. President Barry Goldwater that if planned operations were to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam has to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000. Goldwater tells the Pentagon advisors to get some options. Some more options. Asked for a preference, Goldwater suggests they “Lob one [nuclear weapon] into the men's room in Hanoi”.

In 1973, applying the Twenty-fifth Amendment the United States Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (on December 6, the House confirmed him 387 to 35). The military-industrial complex was simply enraged that Ford allowed Saigon to fall, and on September 22, 1975 in San Francisco, California, CIA patsy Sara Jane Moore fired a revolver at Ford from 40 feet (12 m) away killing him instantly.	Ford

Tired

In 1766, Rip Van Winkle, driven out of home by his wife for his broken promises to repair the house wandered into the Castkill mountains with his dog “Wolf”. A band of men hailed from the river. The whole group reminded Rip of the figures in an old Flemish painting, in the parlor of Dominie Van Schaick, the village parson, and which had been brought over from Holland at the time of the settlement. Together they drank a flagon of “Hollands” together, and Rip fell deep asleep.

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The Shadow	In 1941, Orson Welles strikes out in a new direction following the release of Citizen Kane. In order to make himself more appealing to the movie studios, Welles made a movie out of his radio show The Shadow. The protagonist is a fictional character created by Walter B. Gibson in 1931 in a semimonthly series of pulp magazines. The first story was titled "The Living Shadow". The character is one of the most famous of the pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. In print, he wore a slouch hat and a black, crimson-lined cloak with an upturned collar (while in later comic books and the movie, The Shadow wore a crimson scarf around the lower part of his face). He also skulked in the shadows using his skill at concealing himself -- at first. In due course, and in his most famous incarnation, The Shadow became an invisible man who supposedly learned "while traveling through East Asia ... the mysterious power to cloud men's minds, so they could not see him."
Walter B. Gibson

In part, that new incarnation was born of necessity; radio's time constraints made it difficult to describe The Shadow in hiding and nearly invisible. Some believe the Shadow was a hypnotist, as explicitly mentioned in at least a few radio episodes; others contend that the Shadow could manipulate Qi. Because radio was not a visual medium, audiences found The Shadow's invisibility easy to accept. The big screen takes the character to a new level of imagination, and ”The Shadow – the Movie” is the box office hit of 1942.Welles was taken in a new and unexpected direction that eventually lead to the goth classic “Batman”.

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Tom Cruise	In 2007, (KP International) Tom Cruise's reps were reportedly angry about the release of photos of the actor looking bald and fat during filming for his role in the upcoming comedy, Tropic Thunder. "Mr Cruise's private appearance was supposed to be a secret for his fans worldwide. [Paparazzi] have ruined what should have been an upsetting discovery for moviegoers," read a statement from the actor's reps, World Entertainment News Network reported. Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Nick Nolte and Matthew McConaughey star in the film, which is expected to hit theatres next summer.
Old and Fat

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Kennedy	In 1979, Stanley Shapiro wrote the second in a series of articles entitled A Time to Remember in which the journalist was sharply critical of post-Vietnam Foreign Policy. Better for the US to have been humbled by the war in Vietnam and then this ultra-belligerance would have been nipped in the bud, and Westmoreland sent off into a quiet retirement was Shapiro's view.
In Eisenhower and Kennedy, the US had been led by careful crisis managers that had steered the nation away from disaster. Ike had assaulted the congressional military industrial complex with Kennedy threatening to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces. In fact Bay of Pigs showed the world exactly what would happen if congressional military industrial complex drove events - a disaster.

In 1941, French Marine Minister François Darlan sent orders to the French Naval Base at Mers-el-Kébir to increase combat preparedness (e.g. deploy torpedo nets in the harbor), with immediate effect. Due to a catalogue of disasters, the orders were not received in good time before six British carriers under the command of British Admiral James Somerville. Launched a first wave of 181 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive-bombers, level bombers and fighters. Overall, twenty-one ships of the French Mediterranean fleet were damaged and the death toll reached 1,297 with 350 injured. Conspiracy theorists point to a German plot. That aside, the result was very much in favour of the Nazis, with opinion in France swinging strongly behind the Vichy Regime which became a genuine partner in a new european community.

Snakeyes

In 1963, the strange being known as Snake Eyes is still working hard to tie up loose ends. Even though the body count has already reached ten and all the principles are dead. Today's problem is the bullet casings ejected when a bullet or bullet fragment struck a nearby curb. Agents are sent to take away the evidence and store it somewhere safe. Like in the Grand Canyon, thinks Snake Eyes, his mood breaking for a moment.

In 1963, on this day Dallas night club owner Jacob Rubenstein aka Jack Ruby was shot and killed by W. Guy Banister in the basement of Dallas police headquarters. Unconscious, Ruby was put into an ambulance and rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, the same hospital where both JFK ad Lee Harvey Oswald had died over the last three days. Doctors operated on Ruby, but Banister's single bullet had severed major abdominal blood vessels, and the doctors were unable to repair the massive trauma. At 48 hours and 7 minutes after the President's assassins death, Ruby was pronounced dead. After a full autopsy, Ruby's body was returned to his family.

Ruby dies

Cordell Hull

In 1941, the Hull note, formally called "Outline of proposed Basis for Agreement Between The United States and Japan" was delivered on this day. The US Government accepted efforts toward the establishment of peace through the creation of a new order in East Asia. President Charles Lindbergh had no time for colonialism, and astutely foresaw that the Empire of Japan could be a strategic partner in the region for the forthcoming battle with communism.

In 1980/1941, a fleet of six aircraft carriers commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo left Hitokapu Bay for Pearl Harbour under strict radio silence. The fleet was in the path of the US aircraft carrier Nimitz, which had collided with an unnatural storm and the crew were transported to the same location. Captain Matthew Yelland decided to interfere with the past and stop the Japanese Fleet from attacking the US base. The true story of the voyage was portrayed in the movie Final Countdown. Played by actor Kirk Douglas, Yelland made the decision to intercept the incoming Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, but during the attempt, the freak storm returned and sends both the Americans and Japanese back to 1980.	Final Countdown
The result is that America does not enter the war, and Asia, including Oceania is absorbed into the Empire of Japan.

Snapping

In 1766, Rip Van Winkle rested on a bench before a small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of his majesty King George the Third. His wife Dame had driven him out of home for his broken promises to repair the house. Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster was deliberating on events in the wider world. Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn chipped in with the occassional comment. An evening of human fellowship, there was no need to repair the House, and no need to get angry about the events roundabout. Situation normal.

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Westmoreland

In 1979, the cabinet of President William Westmoreland received a characteristically belligerent briefing from US Army Chief of Staff Frederick Carlton Weyand regarding the build-up of Soviet troops on the Afganistan border. The United States had began sending aid to anti-Soviet, Afghan Islamist factions on July 3, 1979. At the other end of the spectrum were apocalyptic warnings of a confrontation issued by journalist Stanley Shapiro. Writing in the New York Times in an article entitled A Time to Remember Shapiro inexplicably suggested that an altered history might require correction.

In Shapiro's view, by winning the Vietnam war, a militarised state had been guaranteed. No slight was left without a reciprocal response. This was a recipe for superpower confrontation. Better for the US to have been humbled by the war in Vietnam and then this ultra-belligerence would have been nipped in the bud, and Westmoreland sent off into a quiet retirement was Shapiro's message.

In 1872, on board the Mary Celeste the crew under the command of Captain Benjamin Briggs reached the island of St Mary in the Azores – it was completely empty. Suggesting the island had been abandoned very recently, a number of strange discoveries were made including untouched breakfasts with cups of tea, washing hung out to dry and a cat found asleep on top of a locker. First Mate Albert Richardson joked that they had not seen a single human being since leaving New York City on November 7, 1872. Nobody laughed – it wasn't a laughing matter by then.

Snakeyes

In 1963, the strange being known as Snake Eyes is working hard to tie up loose ends. Even though the body count has already reached ten and all the principles are dead. Today's problem is a Dicta belt recording from a police officer's motorcycle that was escorting Kennedy’s motorcade. Listening to an incomprehensible string of guttural noises, it would be hard to image a more alien sounding conversation.

In 1963, a coded message from the CIA Station in Moscow is received and fully understood at KGB headquarters. The assassination of President Kennedy was to be considered an “internal” security matter. Khrushchev understood. What was implied but unwritten was the truth. Kennedy had been assassinated by security forces who had overthrown the government of the United States (actually as revenge for abandoning the CIA agents at the Bay of Pigs). The new government would not use the assassination as a pretext for a first strike on the Soviet Union, and sought no Cold War advantage from the action.

Alek dies

Kennedy

In 1963, the substitute body of President John F. Kennedy which was switched at the Parkland Memorial Hospital was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Serious anomalies were discovered in 1967 whilst moving the body of President John F. Kennedy to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery. The true story of how the wounded President had been smuggled out of Dallas to be secreted at Hyannisport was later revealed by Nicholas A. DiChario in his masterful work 'The Winterberry'.

In 1950, the People's Republic of China joined the Korean War, sending thousands of troops across the Yalu river border to fight United Nations forces. UN Commander in Chief (Korean Peninsula) MacArthur raised a request to end the conflict by launching the bio-weapons surrendered to him in 1945 by Japanese General Otozoo Yamada's Bacteriological weapons research in Unit 731. Denied, he was angered at what he perceived to be Harry Truman's “limited war” and subsequently relieved of his command by the President. General Omar Bradley later speculated that MacArthur's disappointment over his inability to wage war on China had "snapped his brilliant but brittle mind." With the United States detonating the world's first hydrogen bomb on November 1st 1952, and “Brass Hat” back in the saddle again just twenty-eight days later, the world wondered just how the conflict would end; and vice versa.

MacArthur

Consequences

In 1766, amongst the Catskill Mountains lived Dame Van Winkle, her morose husband Rip, their two children and dog named “Wolf”. They were getting on with their lives in peace, albeit for the wife’s hot temper, frustrated by her husband’s inactivity. Dame had dreams, bigger dreams. So did America.

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Count László de Almásy

In 1938, the world-renowned archeologist Count László de Almásy made an announcement from the Gaya district of the Indian state of Bihar. A set of scriptures had been discovered written by a Siddhārtha Gautama at least twenty-five centuries before.

The author had spent forty-nine days in meditation under a tree in Bodhgaya. A complete awakening had achieved an insight into the nature and cause of human suffering, which was ignorance, along with steps necessary to eliminate it. Quoting from Samyutta Nikaya VI.1, de Almásy explained that after his Enlightenment, the Buddha decided he should not teach the Dharma to human beings. He was concerned that, as human beings were overpowered by greed, hatred and delusion, they would not be able to see the true dharma, which was subtle, deep and hard to understand.

In 1946, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Yet the defeat of Japan was only a stepping stone to the re-conquest of the Far East. Supreme Allied Commander General George Patton had wired the President a request and also a proposal to establish US ground control in the theatre. Thirty to fifty nuclear strikes would be required to subdue irregular forces led by the maverick warlords - Mao, Jinnah, Uncle Ho plus General-san Douglas MacArthur and his Filipinos harriers. Truman fired Patton and appointed Eisenhower, ordering him to think the unthinkable.

Zapruder Camera	In 1963, journalist Dan Rather receives a knock on his apart door. He opens it to find nobody there. However, on the step is a small box containing a Model 414 PD Bell & Howell Zoomatic Director Series Camera. Engraved on the base of the camera is the name Abraham Zapruder.

In 1963, on this day at the garage to the Dallas Police Headquarters deep sleeper Soviet agent Jacob Rubenstein shot and killed the switched “Oswald” with a Colt Cobra .38. His KGB training was impeccable, Ruby had impersonated a newspaper reporter and was at the police station on the night of November 22 to find out how to gain access to “Oswald”. Agents acting under the orders of George HW Bush had indiscreetly “permitted” access. Of course Bush himself was only troubled by how to dispose of the other five Oswald doubles he had on his hands, those included the actual assassin and also the man who killed officer J.D. Tippett.	Alek dies

Snakeyes	In 1963, irrepressible physical evidence from the second-floor lunch-room of the Texas School Book Depository on Elm Street forces a decision. Trouble is numerous witnesses including a motorcycle policeman & Mr. Truly saw the Patsy in the lunchroom with a Coca-Cola bottle as the shots were fired. Describing his appearance as proof of being cornered red handed, even Police Chief Jesse Curry and District Attorney Wade are struggling to sound convincing. Snake eyes calls in the hit on Oswald, and several more hits on some witnesses. And then some more hits. He feels a little more confident after taking some action.

in 1946, the second set of trials of lesser war criminals at Nuremberg commenced. In the Sailor's Trials, charges were brought for the destruction of the British Fleet at Scapa Flow by the French Navy which took place on 3 July 1940. A Task Force based in Mers-el-Kébir killed 1,297 and wounded 350 British sailors in this “wanton and unnecessary” attack. The surrender demand from Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul mirrored demands already ceded by British First Sea Lord Winston Churchill " your ships..entrusted to the United States and remain safe until the end of the war, the crews being repatriated... I have the orders from the Élysée Palace to use whatever force may be necessary to prevent your ships from falling into German hands." is presented to the court. Further noted was a contemporaneous statement by Gensoul who was less enthusiastic about the action saying that it was "the biggest political blunder of modern times and will rouse the whole world against us…we all feel thoroughly ashamed…". At the Sailor's trial, Gensoul took ultimate responsibility for the action and was executed before Christmas Day 1946.

Scapa Flow