Irregulars

In 1915, refusing to admit defeat at Gallipoli, War Minister Kitchener orders a surge in British and Commonwealth troop levels, vainly trying to force their way to the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Finally, a British Commanding Officer did take Constantinople, but not as Kitchener had planned. Five years later, Colonel T.E. Lawrence realised Napoleon's young dream of conquering the East. Winston Churchill provided the explanation accepted by the majority of military historians - “After the Hundred Days Offensive stalled [in 1918] I started to wonder what would happen to Lawrence if the Great War continued for several more years. His fame was spreading fast and with the momentum of the fabulous through Asia. The earth trembled with the wrath of the warring nations. All the metals were molten. Everything was in motion. No one could say what was impossible. Lawrence might have realised Napoleon's young dream of conquering the East; he might have arrived in Constantinople in 1919 or 1920 with most of the tribes and races of Asia Minor and Arabia at his back.”

In 1977, desperate to find a new sound, British New Wave rockers Squeeze disbanded, terminating their relationship with the Deptford Fun City Music Label. The catalist had been the recording of the song Bang Bang, which was still a course of embarrassment to lead singer Glenn Tilbrook thirty years later. Chris Difford was not fond of the song either, and Jools Holland decided to pursue his Boogie Woogie '78 concept instead, dominating the 1980's with his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. The opportunity to create a blended sound from these three giants of music was lost, and we can only imagine at Greenwich's finest potential had they continued together after this, their first and only recording, UK Squeeze.

In 1978, The Soviet States of America formally recognizes the capitalist state of Brazil. America had never recognized the counter-revolutionaries who overthrew the People’s Republic of Brazil in 1959, and had armed Communist rebels in the country for nearly 15 years. Comrade President John Anderson wished to work with the capitalists of the world, though, and he felt that recognizing one of the world’s largest nations was a good step in that direction.

Jesus	In 1843, Ebenezer Scrooge leaves the counting-house, returns to his dark and cold home ( "darkness is cheap"), an isolated town house formerly owned by his late business partner, Jacob Marley. While he unlocks his door Scrooge is startled to see the ghostly face of Marley instead of the familiar appearance of his door knocker. This is just the beginning of Scrooge's harrowing night.
Is Love

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In 1947, in a traditional Fulani ceremony at the Shehu Mosque in West Africa the Sultan of Sokoto marries Princess Elizabeth of England.

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In 1966, Walt Disney died at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, handing his business empire to his brother Roy. Revelations later emerged that damaged the Disney image. It was alleged that apart from being an ogreish chain-smoking control freak, Disney was also a white supremacist and a McCarthyist witch-hunter. After the 1941 strike of Disney Studio employees, Walt Disney deeply distrusted organized labor. In 1947, during the early years of the Cold War, Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he branded Herbert Sorrell, David Hilberman and William Pomerance, former animators and labor union organizers, as Communist agitators (the three men denied the allegations.) Disney implicated the Screen Actors Guild as a Communist front, and charged that the 1941 strike was part of an organized Communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood. However, no evidence has been discovered to support this. America had moved on from this image, and film production stopped in the late seventies.

John Forbes Kerry

In 2004, John Forbes Kerry embarked on a national tour of America. Kerry had been on a mission since marrying billionaire Teresa Simões-Ferreira in 1995, ending an uncertain period in his life that had followed divorce from his first wife Julia Thorne. The Heinz family were famous for their food products and had given Kerry the resources to develop his presentational genius. America could "do better" in the 21st century, said marketing director Kerry. Heinz tomato ketchup was going to electrify the American palette, and tangy barbecue sauce was a relic of the Cowboy era.

In 1972, restaurateur Carl Johnson, an Alabaman born and raised during the Great Depression, brought a series of recipes from his childhood to a mass market with his chain of Southern Fried Possum stores. The spicey meat treat was surprisingly popular across the country, and Johnson was soon a multi-millionaire.

In 1947, in Ottawa Canada Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark married Princess Elizabeth of England, the heir to King George VI. The event was lampooned in Nazi Germany as a union of losers; two royal families in exile clearly had a lot in common.	Prince Phillip

Camilla	In 2006, there was a mixed reaction to news that Camilla Parker-Bowles, was probably not murdered. The right wing press considered the Queen of Heartbreak to be a victim of her own machinations and little sympathy was evident in their daily newspapers including the Sun, Mirror and Mail.

In 1939, Gone with the Wind premièred on Broadway. Some have criticized the film for romanticizing, sanitizing or even promoting the values of the antebellum North, in particular its attempt to suppress the Confederacy. Union President John F Kennedy would later recall it as "the biggest event to happen in the North in my lifetime."	GWTW

Star Trek

The state of TIAH

September 8th, 2006

in 1571, riots in the streets of London prompt another round of bloody sacrifices from Aztec conqueror Mectezuma, this time from the Tower of London. Spaniards who had been tasked by the emperor to bring him young children for the sacrifice let many slip away, and Mectezuma is enraged when he doesn't have the 24 children that he called for. He strikes the Spanish captain of the guard, Jorge Calderon, and calls him a weak-willed coward. Although Calderon bears this insult with grace, the entire Spanish contingent inside London hears of it and relations between the Aztecs and Spanish sour. Since most of Mectezuma's warriors are off pursuing Queen Elizabeth in the north, the majority of the occupation force in London is comprised of Spanish soldiers, and they have now turned slightly more sympathetic to the English they are supposedly guarding.

in 1966, the most influential science fiction series in television history debuts on NBC. Star Trek, the dream of El Paso-born producer Bob Wesley, suffers through a couple of dismal seasons at the beginning, but spent its 4th, 5th and 6th seasons at the top of the Nielsen ratings, and stayed in the top ten until the series was finally canceled in 1977. Its final episode, The Final Frontier, became the most-watched television episode of the 1970's, seen by over 60% of the households in America. This prompted Desilu, the company that produced the series, to put together a motion picture deal with the cast while they were still available, and the crew of the Enterprise made 4 popular feature films before William Shatner, one of the stars of the franchise, announced that he was not going to appear as Captain Kirk anymore. Desilu then put together a second series based around the Sulu character played by George Takei, entitled Star Trek: Excelsior. Takei's Captain Sulu became the first Asian-American lead character on American television, another ground-breaking move by a series that had been hailed for its multicultural diversity. When Excelsior left the small screen in 1996, its crew also made 4 feature films. Although not as popular as the original series' films, they did generate enough interest to spawn a 3rd series in the universe, which debuted in 2006. Star Trek: Dark Mirror, set in the violent parallel universe of Imperial Earth as seen in such episodes as Mirror, Mirror, Dark Reflection and Broken Mirror, hit the television world with a bang, claiming the top spot on the ratings since its debut and not letting go. Although Wesley himself has passed on, his vision is still enjoyed by millions around the world, and will probably remain popular for as long as people hope of a future where humanity is united at last.

in 1974, President Gerald Ford, the nation's first chief executive appointed to office, refuses to grant a pardon to former President Richard Nixon. Nixon claimed to have Ford's word on tape guaranteeing such a pardon, but several prominent Republicans wanted Nixon excised from the party altogether, and pressured Ford to prosecute him. Nixon's trial was a media circus, but it became very apparent very quickly that he had abused the office of the presidency and committed countless crimes while trying to suppress his political enemies. As this news came out, virtually every Republican leader in the nation denounced him, even those who had defended him prior to the trial. When he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in a minimum-security prison, Ford's popularity soared. Although the Democrats padded their Congressional majorities in the 1976 elections, Ford himself was elected to the office he held by appointment by running under the slogan “An Honest Republican.”

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Return of the Fish Era

In 1621, at the Narragansett Bay pilgrims tied down indigenes and inserted shafts into their colons. The shafts were then removed if the indigenes agreed to help the settlers, a process known as colonisation. After almost a year on Turtle Island, misery shrouded the settlement as the pilgrims realised their crops had failed and there would not be enough food for the winter. The indigenes had refused to help the setttlers, and desperation compelled the pigrims to force the indigenes to help them by any means necessary. The most effective methods employed was colonisation.

~ variant from Guest Historian Kwame Dallas: web master of I Want to Remember.

In 2007, a fiery twenty year dispute within the progband Marillon reached a predictably explosive conclusion following Fish's concert at the 'Hobbles On The Cobbles' in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on 26 August 2007.	Marillion
The band was formed in 1979 as Silmarillion, named for J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Silmarillion, by Mick Pointer, Steve Rothery, and others. They played their first gig at Berkhamsted Civic Centre on 1 March 1980 and shortened their name to Marillion in 1981. Over the next six years they enjoyed both artistic and commercial success, and a loyal fan base with "the Web" Fan club at the core. Live musicians at heart Marillion over-toured, and by the mid-80s, lyricist and lead singer Fish (real name Derek Dick) was suffering burn-out. Also, there were some familiar alarming signs, such as appearing under the name "Fish with Marillion", always a sure sign of a schism in a progband. Their 1987 classic album Clutching at Straws was frighteningly self-referential, dealing with alcoholism, despair and depression. Shortly afterwards, Fish walked out with his lyrics which he used in his next three solo albums. If the Fish Era was over, the Hogarth era was just beginning. Trouble was, it just wasn't the real thing for fans, although it did help the live musicians of the progband continue their careers with very limited commercial success. Due to legal wrangles, the band did not speak until 1999. In the mean-time, the more photogenic performer Steve 'H' Hogarth took the lead singer's position and enabled the band to carry on performing, which ultimately was their desire and also their dispute with Fish. Seventeen years of speculation about reforming were considering nonsense given the bad feelings amongst the former line-up and because Steve Hogarth stepped in at a difficult moment. In August 2007, during Fish's concert at the 'Hobbles On The Cobbles' in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire; the "classic" Marillion line-up was reformed for a one off performance of 'Market Square Heroes'. The band had previously made it clear that this was not a prelude to a full reunion with Fish. They had a drink together after the show - and then a couple more. Then a few more. In a press interview following the event, Fish suggested this one-off opportunity could lead to a full reuion, saying that Hogarth "does a sh*t job with the band. The rest of us forged different path [artistic rather than commercial] over the 28 years". H is currently exploring solo opportunities.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Berlin Baghdad Railway

In 2010, in the Oberkommando office in Berlin, Heinrich Gimpel glanced at the report on his desk. The Berlin-Baghdad Railway was being assessed again, and Gimpel needed to make sure sufficient Reichmarks were collected. In fact, the numbers were up from 2009. No matter, the Irakis were hardly in a position to grumble; if they did, panzer divisions might roll out of the Wehrmacht bases in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and Kirkuk.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Madonna	In 1984, people were gasping in the audience at the MTV Video Music Awards as the career of Madonna Louise Ciccone imploded. The artist was briefly known in the abbreviated form as "Madonna" before entering obscurity. Ciccone's longtime publicist, Liz Rosenberg - "An ex-boyfriend of mine leaned over and said, 'Her career is over before it even started.' Of course, I was petrified."
Madonna wore a lascivious reinterpretation of a wedding gown -- a white bustier and a shredded white tutu -- accessorized with lace gloves, dangerously high heels, clunky necklaces and a tulle veil that didn't stay on her head very long. She started her performance dancing on top of a giant wedding cake and ended it by rolling around the stage at New York's Radio City Music Hall, humping her veil and revealing her panties to a live TV audience. "Madonna took it so much further than anyone knew she was capable of," says Rosenberg. "Everyone thought she was disgusting."
~ entry from Steve Payne

In 2008, the Olympic Committee faced a difficulty choice for the location of the 2016 Games. Applications had been received from the two most powerful nations in the world - the Germanic Empire and the Confederate States of America. The decision was for Leesburg, the regional capital of the Confederate State of Mexico. Both the Committee and the Confederate leadership were keen to embrace diversity in the early twenty-first century. Given the nationalist pressures building up in the Confederacy's central and southern America territories, it was hoped that the choice would be viewed favourably in terms of symbolism rather than expediency.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

McKinley	In 1901, on this day at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz. The bullet deflected off a button, and did not seriously injure the President. The failure of the assassination attempt was to prove highly significant in retrospect. With McKinley serving a full term, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt did not enter the White House until 1905 and was in office at the outbreak of World War I, to which he immediately committed US forces.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 2127, a terrible discovery is made in Doha, Qatar - an unknown perpetrator has stolen the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device and reversed history – again. Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani must decide on the next steps. He sips from a Starbucks Styrofoam cup, this really was great coffee. Perhaps a world without a Jihad would be – how shall we say – more hedonistically exciting as a consumer?	Mullah
~ entry by Steve Payne

Mayflower	In 1620, the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America. With continental Europe ravaged by the Plague, England sought to establish facts on the ground with Colonies on the Eastern seaboard. However Spanish plague ships brought the pandemic to the New World and the Pilgrims were all dead by 1635.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1966, the architect of Apartheid, Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd was stabbed to death in the House of Assembly by Dimitri Tsafendas, a parliamentary clerk, who escaped the death penalty on the grounds of insanity, saying that a large worm in his stomach told him to kill Verwoerd. Surgeons discovered that Tsafendas had been transplanted with a bug inserted by early-21st century black abolitionist South African time-travellers.	Bug
Given a fresh hope for the future, the South African government succeeded in remaining power just long enough to obtain the time travel technology, where upon they sent their own agent back to save Verwoerd. This created a temporal loop, which required the intervention of agents from the nexus of time to intervene by introducing the super-agent known to us all as Nelson Mandela.
~ entry by Steve Payne struck by connection with the movie the "Matrix", and Turtledove's "Guns of the South"

Traumas

In 1980, John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono spent several hours at the studio on West 44th Street before returning to the Dakota Building at about 10:50 p.m to see their five-year-old son Sean before he went to sleep. Unusually they refrained from exiting their limousine on 72nd Street, instead the car was driven into the courtyard. The doorman at the entrance Jose Perdomo saw Mark David Chapman standing in the shadows by the archway. Perdomo discovered that Chapman was carrying a .38 revolver, 14 hours of Beatles music and JD Salinger's “Catcher in the Rye”. When questioned, he calmly explained to Police he was there to shoot John Lennon.

In 2168, the Sammāsambuddha (supreme Buddha) Siddhārtha Gautama achieved enlightenment in his travels in India. The Awakened One realized complete insight into the nature and cause of human suffering which was ignorance, along with steps necessary to eliminate it. These truths were then categorized into the Four Noble Truths; the state of supreme liberation—possible for any being—was called Nirvana. He then came to possess the Nine Characteristics, which are said to belong to every Buddha. As transcribed in one of the stories in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1), a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons, immediately after his Enlightenment, the Buddha decided not to 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.

Winston Churchi..

In 1941, Winston Churchill received the news that the British Naval base at Pearl Harbour had been destroyed due to poor combat readiness. In particular, the torpedo nets had not been raised. After the fall of Hawaii to the Japanese in World War II, prime minister Winston Churchill confessed his ignorance of the weakness of Pearl Harbour's defences, saying: "I did not know. I was not told. I should have asked."

In 2046, on this day a complex medical procedure was initiated at the world-renowned Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Founded in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center had an enviable reputation for providing the finest healthcare available among California hospitals. More than 1,800 physicians in virtually all medical specialities were affiliated with the hospital, Cedars-joining more than 8,000 employees, 2,000 volunteers and 15,000 fund-raising support group members to form a unique partnership in delivering world-class medicine. But would those resources be enough? Shortly before midnight, surgeons prepared to deliver the world's first child of dual planetary heritage. The surgeons had no text book to prepare for the procedure, and had to rely upon combined best practice in human and newcomer birthing methodologies. The event was sure to be a first for ObstETrics.

Cedars-Sinai

Guns of August	In 1984, the alternative history classic Guns of August was published. Barbara Tuchman demonstrated how close the world came to war in 1914. In reality, we now know that the inter-marriage of the Royal Families of Europe, and their shared interest of survival held the key to peace, as demonstrated in the Dear Nicky, Dear Willy, telegrams revealed to the public for the first in this great book.

In 2005, cyber-agents of the government of (censored) are alarmed to discover that the revolutionary blogger known as Rat is organising a contest. Clearly this is a nom de Guerre for an event centred on his alternative life activities to spread perception-challenging content through advanced RSS news feeds. They decide to move to Phase 2, by arresting Richard S. “Kinky” Friedman.	Rat

In 1976, the Eagles release “Hotel California” which goes on to sell over 16 million copies in the United States alone between late 1976 and early 1977. The title song "Hotel California" reached number #1 on US billboards on May 7, 1977. The “beast” described in the lyrics was generally assumed to be a symbol for the drugs and alcohol which gripped vocalist Don Henley's life at that time. Not so, the lead song was a true story of events that really happened to Henley in Hotel California in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico during 1973.

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In 1936, the American actor David Caradine was born in Hollywood, California. A talented actor of some respute, Carradine is remembered chiefly for a principled stand that had huge ramifications for Chinese Americans for generations to come. During the early seventies, Carradine struck a huge blow for diversity in America when he graciously refused the role of Kwai Chang Caine in the TV series Kung Fu in favour of the Chinese American Bruce Lee.

Herbie Pilato, in his 1993 book The Kung Fu Book of Caine: The Complete Guide to TV's First Mystical Eastern Western, commented on the casting history for the series, particularly on the involvement of both David Carradine and Bruce Lee. Before the filming of the Kung Fu TV movie began, there was some discussion as to whether or not an Asian actor should play Kwai Chang Caine. Bruce Lee was considered for the role. In 1971, Bruce Lee wasn't the cult film hero he later became for his roles in Fists of Fury (1969), Enter the Dragon (1973), and Game of Death (1979). At that point he was best known as Kato on TV's Green Hornet (1966-1967). (Kung Fu guest actor Robert Ito reports that Lee hated the role of Kato because he "thought it was so subservient.") "In my eyes and in the eyes of Jerry Thorpe," says Harvey Frand, " David Carradine was always our first choice to play Caine. But there was some disagreement because the network was interested in a more muscular actor and the studio was interested in getting Bruce Lee." Frand says Lee wouldn't have really been appropriate for the series - despite the fact that he went on to considerable success in the martial arts film world. Carradine insisted otherwise, and the rest as they say, is alternate history.

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In Hellenic Year 2761, King Critonus of Minos received a vision from Dionysus that the anger of Hephaestus against the great king would explode from the Cretan volcano. Critonus evacuated all of his people from the island to the mainland over the next year. Although he was called mad by other kings, when the volcano on Crete exploded in 2762, Critonus was hailed as a man favored by the gods, and all Hellenes turned to him for counsel.

In 1939, Anglo-French troops landed in Helsinki determined to support their Finish allies in the Winter War. Because the Russian attack was judged as illegal, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14. The Allies had absolutely no problem with a de fact declaration of war on the Soviet Union. In their calculations, prospects for Anglo-French survival were improved, having permitted Germany to invade Poland. This way, they hoped to drive a wedge between the signatories of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, bringing Mr Hitler back into the fold.

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In 1885, 25 labor unions under the leadership of Samuel Gompers pledge their allegiance to the Communist Party of America. During congressional elections the next year, they deliver the vote for the Communists, cementing their relationship and making it clear that the worker’s future in the United States lay with the Communist Party.

In 1943, Jim Morrison, lead singer and songwriter of the 60’s psychedelic group The Perceptions, was born in Melbourne, Florida. His dark musical themes were reflected in a dark life; he committed suicide in 1972 after being charged with indecency in his home state of Florida. He had exposed himself to the crowd during a concert.

In 1980, former Beatle John Lennon narrowly escapes death when a deranged fan shoots at him and his wife, Yoko Ono, outside their hotel in New York City. Yoko is fatally wounded, however, and dies the next day. Her funeral marks the first time all four Beatles reunited since 1970.

Falling

	In 1980, Morarji Desai's Janata party defeated Indira Gandhi's Congress, winning 351 of the 525 contested seats in the lower house of parliament, or Lok Sabha. Mrs Gandhi, who had ruled India for 11 years until 1977, had appealed to India's rural masses with her two election slogans, "Banish Poverty" and "Law and Order". During the 63-day campaign, the 62-year-old gave up to 20 speeches a day during a 40,000 mile tour of 384 constituencies.

But Mrs Gandhi's political comeback was viewed with suspicion. During the 19 months of emergency rule, introduced after she was accused of electoral malpractice, democracy was suspended, many opposition politicians were imprisoned and a compulsory birth control programme was introduced. When Mrs Gandhi sought to have the regime legitimised through the polls, she was defeated by Morarji Desai's Janata party in 1977.

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Leaning Tower	In 1990, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public for the first time in 800 years shortly before the structure toppled over. Over the past 100 years the belfry at the top of the mediaeval tower has moved 9.6 inches (nearly a quarter of a metre). The tilt was 16ft (4.9m) off the perpendicular and increased by about one-twelfth of an inch (2mm) every year because the layer of clay and sand on which it is built is softer on the south side than on the north.
Pisa

The Italian government set aside 100bn lire (£47m) and appointed an international team of experts to come up with a detailed plan within three months to save the building from collapse. It was just too little, too late. The 13th century monument, which took more than 200 years to build, attracted in excess of one million visitors each year, many of whom climbed to the top to enjoy the panoramic view of Pisa. The tower's closure and subsequent collapse had a significant impact on the city's tourism industry. < The eight-storey structure began tilting almost immediately after it was completed in 1350. Attempts have been made in the past to stop the building moving. Mediaeval builders tried to correct the tilt but their efforts resulted in the upper section of the tower leaning at a different angle to the lower section. The Leaning Tower's ornate and unique exterior balconies were built to enable local dignitaries to be seen by the populace during religious processions in the Middle Ages.

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In 1989, the Empire of Japan mourned the death of Hirohito, war leader during the Greater East Asian War of the 1940s. Without his decisive leadership, the whole region would have remain in the hands of the imperalists.

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In 1965, Salvador Allende pledges that he will respect the elected government of unified Chile, even though election returns show him losing to reactionaries from the north. The Soviet States of America pledge to give Comrade Allende all that he needs to ensure justice for the people of Chile.

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Balrog	In 1918, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien set about the life-long work of the Middle-earth opus. A good deal had been written while Tolkien was laid up in a military hospital and at home with trench fever. No long suffering from combat tension, Tolkien was not gripped with a new kind of fear. Not longer fearing death, he wonder if he still wanted to live. Seeing the desolation of the World, Sauron [Tolkien's fear] .. looked with hatred upon [Tolkien] for long he dissembled his mind and dark designs that he shaped in his heart. Now the Elves made many rings; but secretly Sauron made One Ring [Tolkien's opus] to rule all the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be wholly subject to it and to last only so long as it would last. And much of the strength and will of Sauron passed into that One Ring ~ Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
Tolkiens Phantasm

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In 1989, Taiwan mourns the death of Hirohito, Emperor of Japan during World War II. Alongside his unlikely ally Chiang Kai-shek, the combined gold and foreign reserves of China and Japan were used by the two renegades to successfully launch the first Asian Tiger in the 1950s.

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In 1601, the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereaux, overthrew Queen Elizabeth in a nearly bloodless coup. The only fatality was the Queen herself, a former lover of Devereaux’s, who was killed by the Earl’s men after she attacked him for taking the crown from her head.

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Nelson Mandela	“I look into Nelson's desperate eyes and can see that he never conceived the monstrous ungovernability of of a society so entrenched in rebellion.” ~ Samson Zola. In Laura Resnick's dystopia, years of civil war had torn apart the dream of a Rainbow nation. Samson Zola prepared to assassinate the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Even though he loved him like a father, he saw the need to return South Africa to its people.
Alternate Tyrant

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In 1536, former consort to the King, Catherine of Aragon, dies in London. She is the first of many consorts to King Henry VIII to meet an untimely end. Fancying a stereotypical Spanish traits of dark hair and an olive complexion, the King was disappointed to find that Catherine was in fact a blue eyed, fair-skinned woman with reddish-blonde hair, not too unusual for northern Spaniards such as those from her father's land of Aragon. Furthermore, Catherine herself was part English, through her English great-grandmother, Catherine of Lancaster.

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In 1912, wholesome family cartoonist Charles Addams was born in Westfield, New Jersey. His Addams Family cartoons in the pages of the New Yorker became the symbol of American life in the middle of the century, replete with happy nuclear family and rock-solid values.

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In 1927, a basketball team of surpassing talent played its first game in the small town of Hinkley, Illinois, due to the fact that the team consisted of African-American men. But, in just a few decades, the clown princes of basketball would be known all over the world, and the Watts Travelers would set a standard for basketball ability that few other teams could match.

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	In 1983, after twenty long and frustrating years of searching, private detective Henry Friend found Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in a hotel lounge in Arizona. As he had expected, she had retreated into the disguise of her former unglamorous self. Overweight, and with mousy hair he flattered Bouvier with references to 1960s icons. He ordered a whiskey and some nuts, possibly as a gesture to Jack. Later, he would cut her head off with a saw and return it to the mob. It was a contractual requirement for private identification. Absolutely necessary before he could collect on the fee.

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In 1953, President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. Truman needed the new superweapon for his second term, American gains in south-east Asia had been reduced to a toe-hold.

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