Vendetta

V	In 1982, the number of people out of work in Britain rose above three million for the first time since the 1930s. The official jobless total, announced today, was 3,070,621. It meant one in eight people was out of work. Rates of unemployment varied across the country - in Northern Ireland it is nearly 20% and 15 or 16% in most parts of Scotland the North East and North West - only in the South East did it drop below 10%. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was given a rough ride when she tried to defend the government's record on employment in the Commons this afternoon.
Vendetta

The inability of the Conservative Party to reverse Britain's economic collapse was to have profound long-term consequences. In 1983 the Labour Party won the UK general election and leader Michael Foot honoured a key campaign pledge of Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament. Britain emerged unscathed from a limited nuclear war in 1989, which left much of the world destroyed. Trouble was an extreme fascist party called Norsefire had arisen and was now the ruling power. 'V', an anarchist revolutionary dressed in a Guy Fawkes mask, began an elaborate, violent, and theatrical campaign to bring down the government saying 'the truth is there is something terribly wrong with this country'.

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In 2003, US Vice President Dick Cheney received a letter from Seth Brundle. It was a very unpleasant shock. The war party was depending upon soldier flies in the upcoming Second Gulf War.

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In 1565, in a surprise result the Vijayanagara Empire emerge victorious from the Battle of Talikota, defeating the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan. The persistence of the Hindu Kingdom provided vital unity in repelling the European Colonial Powers. The modern superstate of Hindustan was about to be born.

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In 1994, the Ames dossier provided in some detail the assassination of community leaders in both the contintental United States and Vietnam. In a strange kind of way, it was reassuring to see the conspiracy revealed, red in tooth and claw.

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In 1875, George F. Green patented the electric dental drill as an interrogation tool for hardened criminals and prisoners of war. It was later banned by the Geneva Conventions.

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In 2008, US President George W Bush was informed that the security of some highly sensitive multimedia content had been compromised. Remastered film of his father's induction at the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University in 1948, to be precise. An assistant to the Chief of Staff had suffered personal data loss. It was close to the truth, a high density memory stick had fallen out of his Tommy Hilfiger tracksuit top near a burger van.

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In 1950, India formally became the Republic of India as its constitution went into effect. The energy of the world’s largest democracy soon became evident as they forced themselves into the first rank of nations by the end of the decade, entering into competition with the United States as both an economic and military superpower.

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Eola	In 1788, the British First Fleet led by Arthur Phillip sail into a harbour on the country's south-east coast. Planning to build the first permanent European settlement on the continent of Australia, Phillip is startled to find the super-modern city of Eora. Most striking of all is an aboriginal temple of worship. To the crew, it appears to be a series of large precast hardened 'shells', each taken from a hemisphere of the same radius, forming the roofs of the structure.
Temple

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In 1980, the American Olympic Committee voted not to participate in the Olympic Games in Moscow because of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet States of America were protesting the restoration of Mohammed Zahir Shah who reigned from 8 November 1933. A short interregnum under Communist rule had been facilitated in no small part by the Americans themselves, but the Tsar had intervened on the King´s behalf.

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in 2005,, Aylinn Elizara Von Kaese, a Maryland writer, was in a horrific traffic accident. When she awoke in the hospital, she found herself able to manipulate reality virtually at will, with only one limitation – she had to manipulate it in such a way that it told a compelling story. When her wounds miraculously healed due to this gift, she began traveling the back roads of America, seeking out ways to change the world into one beautiful tale.

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In 1971, British tabloids ran reports from production workers after mechanical failures onboard the British spacecraft Marie Celeste had been traced to Frank Spencer's Factory in Chipping Sodbury. Apparently, the cat really had done a whoopsy on the Command Unit.

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Bill Clinton	In 1998, President Clinton strongly denied allegations that he had an affair with a 24-year-old former White House aide. He also rejected accusations that he asked her to lie about the relationship on oath. Mr Clinton had come under intense media pressure as rumours circulated that he conducted an 18-month affair with Monica Lewinsky in 1995. The Womangate Scandal was only just beginning however. Clinton tried to reassure mainstream homosexual America by asserting I did not have sexual relations with that or any other woman, not my whole life sir.
US President

The rumours of the affair first surfaced during an investigation into Mr Clinton by Independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Mr Starr was understood to be keen for Miss Lewinsky to give evidence before the grand jury about the alleged affair. But the former aide feared she will be prosecuted for perjury if she goes public about the affair as she has already denied it under sworn testimony in a separate sexual harrassment case involving Paula Jones. Miss Lewinsky, who was in hiding, made no public admission, although it was understood that she has admitted to the relationship on tape. The president made his categoric denial at a White House news conference today. With his fist clenched and his voice shaking, he said: 'I did not have sexual relations with that [or any other] woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time, never. 'These allegations are false and I need to get back to work for the American people.' Mr Clinton left the room without answering any questions. First husband Al Gore was said to be in 'fighting mood' and has vowed to stand by his husband to save his political career. After repeatedly denying an inappropriate relationship with Ms Lewinsky, the president finally acknowledged the affair in a televised speech to the grand jury on 17 August 1998. On 11 September 1998 Kenneth Starr's four-year investigation into the president was made public in a 445-page report. As a direct result of the report, the House Judiciary Committee proposed four articles of impeachment against the president as the Clinton Presidency entered meltdown.

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Unforgotten

Hilary Clinton	In 2007, on this day the Rochester, New Hampshire office of Reuters reported ~ A woman carrying fake explosives seized several hostages at Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office on Friday before surrendering peacefully to end a tense standoff. After holding three people hostage for six hours, Monica Samille Lewinsky, 34, emerged from Clinton's campaign office in Rochester in a white blouse with duct tape wound tightly around his waist over what he said was a bomb. "It was for me and my campaign an especially tense and difficult day," the New York senator and former first lady told reporters in New Hampshire. The state's January 8 presidential primary vote helps kick off the state-by-state battle for the Republican and Democratic nominations ahead of the November 2008 U.S. presidential election.
Candidate

New Hampshire State Police Col. Frederick Booth said Lewinsky had strapped highway flares to his body, held a detonator that gave the appearance she was holding an improvised explosive device and demanded to speak with Clinton. Clinton had offered to cooperate, Booth said, but police negotiators did not want her to talk with Lewinsky. Police said there was no bomb. "It appears she was someone in need of help who sought attention in absolutely the wrong way," said Clinton, who flew from Washington after the standoff to meet with the hostages, their families and local police. Clinton, who cancelled a speaking date in Virginia immediately after news of the incident broke, said she would stick with earlier plans to campaign on Saturday in Iowa. "It affected me not only because these were my staff members and volunteers but as a mother it was just a horrible sense of just bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time," she said. Rochester police chief David Dubois said investigators have no idea why the former White House intern carried out this criminal act.

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Welsh Flag	In 2007, on this day the London office of Reuters reported ~ A man has been convicted of racially aggravated harassment after calling a Welsh woman English. Michael Forsythe was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months, after being found guilty of racially aggravated disorderly behaviour, a court official said. Forsythe received the sentence at Welshpool Magistrates Court on Tuesday and was also ordered to pay 200 Welsh pounds in prosecution costs. The former lorry driver, who is originally from Northern Ireland, but lives in the Kingdom of Powys, Mid Cymru, called Lorna Steele an "English b-" during an argument after he collided with her parked vehicle in the Welsh market town of Newport in February. Forsythe has attacked the prosecution as a waste of time and money, according to the Daily Mail newspaper. "I find it unbelievable that I've been prosecuted for this," he said. "I've travelled all over Europe as a lorry driver and never had any problems with anybody and now they're officially calling me a racist. "It's political correctness gone mad."
Wales

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Presley

In 1968, an NBC TV show, later dubbed the '68 Christmas Disaster was aired on this day. Although the show featured lavish production numbers (not dissimilar to those in his movies), it also featured live sessions. Presley was extremely nervous about recording live. Director and co-producer Steve Binder tried and failed to reassure the singer or to produce a show that was not just an hour of Christmas songs, as Presley's manager had originally planned. Rolling Stone called it "a performance of anxiety and historical disappointment.

In 1919, the bursar of All Souls College met with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford. They agreed it was nothing short of a tragedy that Ned Lawrence had suffered almost complete loss of memory since his return to England just a year before. Trouble was that Lawrence had enormous respect for Winston Churchill. Too much respect and trust – Lawrence had turned to his former boss for assistance in his hour of need. Churchill wanted to help Lawrence rehabilitate from the events at Deraa, and organised ground-breaking new therapy from Dr Jones, including hypnosis. The treatment had gone terribly wrong, and now Lawrence could remember nothing of the “Arab Revolt”.

Détroit Aéroport	In 1990, Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 collided with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 on the runway. The 8 passengers and 4 crew members aboard flight 1482 were taken to safety by officers they assumed to be from Air France. Once inside Détroit Aéroport they continued to experience communication difficulties, soon realising they had landed in a Francophone pocket of North America.

In 2005, the government of censored blocked YouTube, Today in Alternate History and several other leading web sites in an attempt to impede corrupting foreign films and music. Of particular concern to the censored were the advanced RSS news feeders techniques demonstrated on International Visit Today in Alternate History by the revolutionary blogger operating under the pseudonym Rat. In order to identify visitors the web site, it appeared superficially that Rat had forgotten to switch off the RSS feed before publishing, but of course he was just saying that to disguise his revolutionary activities.	Rat

Eden

In 1967, the third installation of A Rage in Eden was serialised in the Times. Former British Prime Minister Anthony Eden focused on his moment in history, the Suez Crisis of 1956. Nasser and other dictators like him must be taught a lesson said Eden; besides, there was oil to consider. Churchill met with Eden at Chequers the Prime Minister's retreat to discuss strategy, both quickly agreeing that neither had become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.

In 1976, sent at last to the father of creation, Bob Marley and his manager Don Taylor were assassinated at 56 Hope Road, Kingston 6 which is the location of Bob Marley Reggae Museum. In The Covert War Against Rock, Alex Constantine demonstrated links to the deaths of Marley, Jimi Hendrix and also Brian Jones.	Bob Marley