Caught

L. Sprague de Camp	"Yezid spoke up - 'But a little longer..and the Franks will melt away'. Ya'qub snorted. 'How long do you think our men will abide this fearful Frankish climate? I say strike now, whilst their spirits are up'. Emotionally Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Governor-general of al-Andalus and Lord of Damascus burned to get to grips with the army of Charles Martel, Mayor of Austrasia so he said 'I have decided Ya'qub's advice is sounder.'" ~ L. Sprague de Camp
Historian

In the Wheels of If L. Sprague de Camp described the Frankish defeat at the Battle of Tours in 742 AD, consolidating Arab hegemony in Europe. The destruction of Central European military power gifted the North-West periphery to the Norsemen, sustaining Celtic power in Scandinavia and Great Britain. One consequence was the Viking settlement of North eastern Turtle Island and the subsequent formation of the Bretwaldate of Vinland. The review of the historical masterpiece is available at Eternal Night Review

~ quotation by Alternate Historian

In 1953, the invasion of earth enters a third phase as aliens start melting the ice caps, causing sea levels to rise. London and other ports are gradually flooded, causing widespread social and political collapse. Journalists Mike and Phyllis Watson report that all is lost if humanity cannot quickly develop a superweapon to combat the Kraken. London ~ variant by Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

~ entry by Alternate Historian

George Wallace	In 1976, Thalmus Rasulala reads Arthur Bremer's An Assassin's Diary. The diary describes how Wallace, whilst campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, on May 15, 1972, Wallace was shot five times by a would-be assassin named Arthur Bremer. Three others wounded in the shooting survived. Bremer's diary, published after his arrest showed that Bremer's assassination attempt was not motivated by politics, but by a mysterious voice in his head; a Mandinka discerned Rasulala.

In 1635, Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams spoke out against punishments for religious offences and giving away Native American land. Labelled by a minority as a religious dissident, most of the Christian people of Massachusetts Bay Colony saw the truth of Williams' wise words. A fresh start could begin in America with peaceful co-existence between indigenes and the European settler. After all, it really is a Big Country.	Simmons

Nasser	In 1969, Richard Z. Chesnoff, Edward Klein, and Robert Littell published How Israel Lost the War. The journalists recount how Israel hoped for a diplomatic settlement, but Arab forces delivered a devastating surprise attack on June 5, 1967. A day-by-day account of the six-day fall of Israel and its repercussions in the US, USSR and the new UAR is given in this masterpiece.

In 2007, mysterious agents appear at the publisher's which is computer engineer Robert A. Taylor's place of work. Attempting to escape through a window ledge, he is captured and then taken away for interview.	Agents

Blink

William Butler Yeats	Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. Now I know that twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? ~ The Second Coming by WB Yeats (1916) In 1999, it was almost time. President Boris Yeltsin announced his resignation from the Kremlin on the last day of the century. Political journalists had asked - if the West cannot prevent the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, what hope was there for their reaction to the former Soviet Union. That question was about to be answered.
Poet

In 1943/1943, Henry Deutschendorf, also known as John Denver, was born in Roswell, New Mexico. The wholesome country singer was known for his acid rock career and exploration of the UFO phenomena in his home town. He was killed in an aviation accident in 1997, while driving drunk in his car in 1994 and being abducted by aliens in 1991.

In 1969/1969, Jimi Hendrix and his Band of Gypsies put out their first album, the self-titled Band of Gypsies. Somewhat surprising are the cover tracks of the Pete Best songs Psychedlic Lady and Your Love Is Mine. Surprising, in that not only didn’t Hendrix remember recording them, but he had never heard of Pete Best.

In 1917, the British poet T.S. Eliot published “the Hollow Men” which concluded “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper”. Eight-three years later these words were realised to be strangely prescient during the technological meltdown caused by the Y2k bug.

Millennium Bug

In 1999, the world's computers take their last blink as the worst fears of programmer Linus Torvald are realised.

In 1775, Governor Sir Guy Carleton sued for peace as British defenders of the city of Quebec in Canada laid down their weapons to patriot forces under generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery. A blizzard had made the city indefensible, and privately, the British had lost interest in staying in Canada due to the country's inclement weather.	Benedict Arnold

Agents	In 2005, agents of the government of (censored) burst into the household. They find a PC133-style computer with the Newsreader Yabadabadoo! open on the YouTube! RSS feed. But no Rat. The revolutionary blogger is still one step ahead of them, and they will have to continue their hunt into the new year.

In 1986, Norman Spinard wrote “He came close to defeat. It might not have been”. Edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg, Hitler Defeated presented eleven stories of the German Defeat in World War II, “a treat for all science fiction enthusiasts and powerful, thought-provoking reading for everyone, these stories explore a whole series of futures made possible by the tempting but not all implausible premise of the defeat of the Thousand-Year Reich”.

Hitler

in 1879/12-13-5-1-12, as Thomas Edison was demonstrating his latest adjustments to the Eddie, a band of Oueztecans warriors broke into his New Jersey showroom. Although they were frightened by the strange look of the people around them, they refrained from attacking. Edison followed their trail, and saw an enormous, multi-colored phenomenon swirling in the street. Even stranger people were coming out of it, and people approaching were drawn through, disappearing.

.

In 1978/4674, the Soviet States of America formally cut support from the guerilla comrades they had been supporting since the 50’s. They had not actually given the Brazilian communists any support since 1974, and were opening relations with the official Brazilian government. Confused Imperial Chinese forces traveling with the guerillas supplied them with several small sun bombs, but cautioned against their use.

William Robinson, Jr.	In 1969, on this day William “Smokey” Robinson, Jr. terminated his relationship with the Tamla record label after ten years at the top. Smokey had been one of the primary figures associated with the record label, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy. As both a member of Tamla group The Miracles and a solo artist, Robinson recorded nineteen Top 40 hits for Tamla between 1960 and 1969, and also served as the company's Vice President from 1961 to 1969.
Songwriter

After marrying Claudette Rogers, Robinson started a family, and named both of his children after the record label: his son was named Berry after the company's founder, and his daughter Tamla after the imprint for which Robinson and The Miracles recorded. The Miracles remained a premier Tamla act through most of the 1960s. Albums were released as "Smokey Robinson & the Miracles" after 1965. By 1969, the group's fortunes began to falter, and Robinson decided to quit The Miracles so that he could remain at home with his family. The group stopped recording and Robinson left the group. Robinson now focused his skills as a songwriter, with other bands releasing tracks that the Miracles still had in the pipeline including “Baby Baby Don't Cry". The Tears of a Clown was released by the UK band “The Beat” as a single, it became a number one hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom during 1979. Suddenly, Smokey Robinson was hot again.

.

In 1999, the world braces for the end of all computerized activity as society has failed to address the issues brought forward by programmer Linus Torvald and others. As the clock strikes twelve, computers short out all over th

My Long Farewell

August 27th, 2007

Digg this

Don't forget - Birthday Contest for Steve – November 22, 1967. Send in an alternate birthday for him for us to post!

Robbie's Long Goodbye: I'm sure that some of you have been anticipating this – I have decided to turn over TIAH to my Co-Historian, Steve, who has been doing most of the work here since he started, anyway. I will be starting another project, The RATMANifesto, which will be more along the lines of what I am writing now. This week, I'll be making the changes that Steve wishes to see in the design of TIAH before I hand over things to him, and I'll be writing a note of fond farewell each day as I do so. I have a couple of Guest Historians who have sent in material for future dates, and I will suggest to Steve that he take advantage of the great pool of talent out there among the Alternate Readership. We'll be letting you know by the time Steve takes over whether that will be the case. Steve has also graciously asked that I post from time to time, and I'm sure that I will – who could resist being the Visiting Alternate Professor Emeritus? But, this week will mark my last as your chief Alternate Historian, and so I will have maudlin farewells at the beginning of each post as I make them. Thank you for your attention, and your readership over the last three years.

Jesse Owens	In 1935, American athlete Jesse Owens commented on the decision by United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage to withdraw the participation of the American athletics from the Games of the XI Olympiad in Archona, capital city of the Dominion of Draka.
With Owens expected to win up to four gold medals, a tinge of bitterness could reasonably be expected from most human beings. It is widely repeated that Chief Justice von Shrakenburg "snubbed" Jesse Owens and his achievements. Brundage believed that politics had no place in sport; von Shrakenberg feared sport would define politics by debunking the Draka assertion of white supremacy. Owens said, "I think journalists showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in the Dominion of the Draka". One can only wonder if his tongue had crept into his cheek before making this memorable statement.
~ variant entry by Steve Payne: details of the Draka World have been used to celebrate the genius of S.M. Stirling

In 1868, in Lee Allred's West of Appomattox US Secretary of State General Robert E. Lee receives a chilly welcome in the Foreign Office. Britain's continued alliance with the Confederacy is creating major problems for the defeated North. Officially ignored, he finds a deeper game is afoot.

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

In 1950, UN Commander in Chief for the Korean Peninsula General Douglas MacArthur ordered the evacuation from Pusan. He told the people of South Korea “I will return”, a promise he was unable to keep.

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

BITBBH	In 2007, troubled Pals series star Jennifer Anniseed announced a trial separation from her husband of only six weeks, the TV celebrity formerly known as the Bear in the Big Blue House. Saddened, BITBBH suggested that Jen had never got over Bradley Putz and didnt really want a bear for all seasons at all.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

"Old Blood and Guts" Part 1 (1885-1918) - General George Smith Patton III has died, aged eighty. He was survived by his wife of fifty-five years Banning Ayer, the daughter of a wealthy textile baron. The Pattons had two daughters Beatrice Smith (died 1953) and Ruth Ellen. Their son George Smith IV was a 1946 graduate of West Point, serving in Korea as a company commander. In Vietnam he commanded the 11th Armored Cavalry as a colonel during three tours of duty there, before retiring from the Army in 1980. Alongside his contemporary cavalryman General George Armstrong Custer, George Patton III was instrumental in the development of armored warfare during the mid-20th. In World War I General John "Black Jack" Pershing assigned Patton to the newly formed United States Tank Corps. Depending on the source, he either led, or was an observer at the Battle of Cambrai in which first tanks were used as a significant force. From his successes (and his organization of a training school for American tankers in Langres, France), Patton was promoted to major and then lieutenant colonel and was placed in charge of the U.S. Tank Corps, which was part of the American Expeditionary Force and then the First U.S. Army. He took part in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, September 1918, and was wounded by machine gun fire as he sought assistance for tanks that were mired in the mud.

~ alternate obituary from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to re-examine the significance of a controversial historical figure.

Castle Bonny	In 1943, British Prime Minister Oswald Mosley and King Edward VIII presented the view of the British Government to the movie Castle Bonny which premièred eight days before on Broadway.
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund and Paul Henreid as resistance leader Victor Laszlo, caught in a love triangle. The rekindled romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. The final scene shows Dick, Laszlo and a detachment of Free British soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1943 invasion of England. “This unpleasant and beastly business will shortly come to an abrupt end” said the King from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. “The invasion or the movie reviews?” quipped the Prime Minister and they both laughed. Actually, it was no laughing matter, because that very day both had reluctantly approved the Nazi decision to use gas to repel the Free British Forces racing up the south coast at uncomfortable fast speed for the Fascists.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2127, through the functioning of the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device, and assisted by the kidnapping by the Eurasian fugitive known as Brent first Asian QC Kim Hollis and the Attorney General return to the London office of Lord Peter Goldsmith on 11 March 2003.	Goldsmith
Goldsmith is being strongly encouraged to leave his wife Joy of 33 years in favour of Hollis. He is also being prevailed upon to issue confidential legal advice to the Prime Minister of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that British involvement in a land invasion of Iraq would be illegal due to the absence of a UN Security Council Resolution explicitly sanctioning participation by the “coalition of the willing”. Neither prospect was particularly savoury. People just didn't seem to understand the difference between private and public morality, really – it was quite maddening.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

USS Eldridge	In 1943, on this day the U.S. naval destroyer escort Eldridge was commissioned by the ..
.. Navy for Project Rainbow. In a military application of Albert Einstein’s unified field theory, the destroyer escort was fitted with powerful generator equipment, designed to distort electromagnetic radiation and gravity, rendering the ship invisible to radar. On or before October 28 1943 USS Eldridge was rendered invisible to human observers for a brief period of time. Upon her return, she left a very visible tear in the fabric of the Universe. The observers reported a thermal distortion much like the running of gas out of a pipe, or hot air rising off the desert. By the time President Truman arrived for a personal viewing on October 30th, there were some seriously worried people on the Project. That included Albert Einstein, who offer absolutely no guarantees to the President that the tear could be fixed up.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1962, on this day the Mariner 2 was launched to Venus. On the way it measured for the first time the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles flowing outwards from the Sun. It also measured interplanetary dust, which turned out to be more scarce than predicted.	Mariner 2
And something else was discovered which the Mariner 2 was not simply designed to report. The spacecraft is now defunct in a heliocentric orbit, where it is bristles with a virulent space plague.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

Civil Strife

The state of TIAH

April 16th, 2007

Digg this

in 1891, the eastern Kansas border is fortified by volunteers from around the state. Major Mark Wainwright and his band of men encounter part of this fortification as they head to Topeka to free President Grover Cleveland, and the ensuing fight leaves 12 of his men dead; but he wins the engagement. By the evening, they are in Topeka and in pitched battle at the governor's mansion, where they steal the former president from the room where is being held. They fight their way out of the city, with only half of their original force left, when a stray shot hits President Cleveland in the stomach. Major Wainwright struggles with his remaining men to Kansas City and desperately searches for a doctor in the chaotic city.

in 1982, Nathaniel Strawn is born in College Station, Texas. Strawn, a mathematician by training, joined NASA's Mars Project in 2029, just in time to work on the final lander that would put his cousin, astronaut Catherine Taylor, on the Red Planet in 2034.

in 1998, a bar fight turns into the first battle of the war to unseat the Windsors, when a small group of the Royal Marines enter a bar in Swansea, Wales, that is very loyal to Arthur Pendrake. Several harsh words are exchanged, fists fly, and then the owner of the pub reaches for his hunting rifle. A marine sees him, reaches the rifle first, and shoots the older man dead. There is a moment of silence as the implications of this sink into everyone present; then, all the local pub crawlers are running home for their weapons. One of the marines pulls out a cell phone and calls back to base for help. Within the hour, the marines are wiped out by the locals, and military units are heading into Swansea. Arthur, as soon as the news hits the airwaves, puts out a call for all his followers to defend Swansea and repulse the royalists. His cold war against the Windsors has just turned hot.

Ord Wingate	In 1972 Deputy Interim Prime Minister Major General Ord Wingate, DSO reviews his report for the Conference which is to be presented at the Conference tomorrow. Ord reflects upon the state state of affairs that had let to the formation of the military government. The Labour Government had used the retreat from empire as a ..
.. reason for reducing the military and closing bases in the Far East ('East of Suez' strategy). Matters had come to a head with the financial crisis of 1967. During the disastrous 'pound in your pocket' devaluation assurances had been given to overseas investors such as the King of Saudi Arabia. The promises had not been honoured and the lion had become an ass. Senior members of the services suspected that the Labour Party was purposefully running down the size of the armed forces. Whatever the truth, by 1967, the military had been forced to act before it was too late.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - You're the Judge!

In 1942 Windsor, Montgomery and Auchinlech agree on the basics. The British Empire faces extinction in the next two decades, and the meteoric rise of the Labour Party suggests a ghastly future in which chaps such as themselves have no meaningful role outside of museum pieces.	Edward VIII
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

RMS Titanic	In 1912 on this day owners of the near-bankrupt White Star Line made a fateful decision. As is the nature heinous crimes, encouraging a number of conspiracy theories can do absolutely no harm. Agents were paid to supply Journalists with a number of stories in the bars and pubs of Belfast and New York. One of them was the ..
.. genuine article - the switch with the RMS Olympic - slipped in amongst a pack of other lies to cover up the truth.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - You're the Judge!

In 1922 the Treaty of Rapallo was signed by Imperial Germany and Tsarist Russia re-establishing diplomatic relations between Berlin and Moscow. After the Second Franco-Prussian war, it was absolutely clear that the Triple Entente binding Russia, France and Great Britain was finished. Recognising that the window of opportunity ..	Tsar Nicholas I..
.. to defeat Russia had now passed, the House of Hohenzollern cut their loses, and allied with Russia, in effect restarting Bismarck's Re-insurance Treaty of 1887. It was a smart move for both sides, and effectively gifting the hegemony of Western Europe to the Prussians.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

A Note About A Certain Day

The state of TIAH

April 17th, 2007

Digg this

Alternate Historian's Note: We started experiencing a spike in visits yesterday, with a rather large percentage of that spike going to one particular page on our site – the page titled Hitler's Birthday. It has, rather disturbingly, always been a popular destination here, but we've never seen as huge a number of hits on that page like occurred yesterday – in fact, it's still going on today. I have been hoping that it's not because we've gotten ourselves on some Nazi mailing list, but because Hitler's birthday is coming up and we appear 5th in a Google search when you look those words up. It's one of those odd things you accept when you run an alternate history site. Still, this is the largest number of hits I've seen on that page since it went up, and I can't help but think it's caused by something. There was a horrific incident yesterday that people might have thought was sparked by the approaching anniversary – this date seems to bring out lunatics time and time again (there is some dispute as to whether Hitler was born on the 19th or the 20th). It disturbs me that people are drawn to that page, because the one section of the Internet's population that I get threats from comes from those who take Hitler rather more seriously than I do, and I hate the thought of more of them coming here. I haven't been inundated in email or comments calling me various anti-Semitic slurs, so there's hope that we don't have a new Nazi wave coming through the hallowed halls of TIAH. I guess we'll have to wait and see. While I worry, please enjoy our Guest Historian's work...

In 2165 almost two hundred years had passed at Venice Beach since the fateful meeting of Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. The teenagers who played basket ball on this day knew nothing of the formation of The Doors. All they knew was basket ball. The great game had been played at Venice Beach long before the fateful meeting, and would continue to be played for a short time to come.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Lord Louis Moun..	In 1972 the Conference in Admiralty House began. In the Chair was Interim Prime Minister Lord Louis Mountbatten and his Deputy Ord Wingate, the delegates were the senior figures in the military government who had ruled Britain for the past five years. Fundamentally, Mountbatten reflected, the officer corps had not come to ..
.. terms with Britain's new position in the world. They had won the war and lost the peace. It was maddening to beat the Japanese in Burmese jungles, yet be defeated by the invisible movements of world trade.  But there it was .
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - You're the Judge!

In 1942 Windsor, Montgomery and Auchinlech take a step further. The attempt to establish the Axis Powers of Anglo-America had ended in failure. US President Charles Lindburgh and British Prime Minister Oswald Mosley were the right men but at the wrong moment in history. Neither Britain nor America wanted a war of defence ..	Edward VIII
..  let alone a war of conquest , public opinion had absolutely no interest in foreign glory. After the financial crises and depression of the 1930s, all they wanted peace and prosperity.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

RMS Titanic	In 1912 on this day agents of the near-bankrupt White Star Line were paid to supply Journalists with a number of stories in the bars and pubs of Belfast and New York. One story was that the Titanic was carrying a cursed Egyptian mummy. The mummy, nicknamed Shipwrecker, after changing hands several times, and causing many ..
.. terrible things to each of its owners, exacted its final revenge by sinking the famous ship. Another story was that several Catholic shipbuilders reportedly walked off the job in protest when they noticed horrible blasphemies against Catholicism and the Virgin Mary spray-painted by Protestant workers on parts of the ship. Yet another that the hull number 390904 which, when seen in a mirror or written using mirror writing, looks like 'no pope'. And the fourth story was the truth, smuggled out in lies to conceal it – the switch with the RMS Olympic. the two sister ships had been swapped at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in order for the near-bankrupt White Star Line to sink the irreparably damaged sister ship, the RMS Olympic.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - You're the Judge!

In 1945 on this day in Strassfurt, Germany, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Boris T. Pash seized half a ton of uranium, foiling Soviet Union plans to build an atomic bomb. He was formerly head of the counter-intelligence organization for Project Manhattan. In 1945 Pash was appointed head of the Alsos Group, organized to search for ..	Manhattan Proje..
.. German scientists in the postwar environment. The mission was to prevent the Soviets, previously Allies but now a potential threat, from capturing any scientists and putting them to work at their own atomic research plants. Uranium piles were also rich 'catches,' as they were necessary to the development of atomic weapons. Pash's efforts set the Soviet atomic program back a decade, by which time, America had established firm control of third world countries with Europeans in full retreat at "end of empire".
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

Rejection

Algeria	In 1961 the French people voted to grant Algeria its independence in a referendum. The result was a clear majority for self-determination, with 75% voting in favour. In Algeria, a slightly lower percentage - 69% - voted in favour. More than 40% of the electorate abstained in response to a campaign by the rebel pro-independence group FLN to boycott the vote. The FLN, led by Ben Bella, has been waging an increasingly violent guerrilla war against French colonists for seven years, causing a political crisis in France.
Crisis

The referendum result was welcomed by French Prime Minister Michel Debré as a "clear and striking response". General de Gaulle was informed of the results by telephone at his country home at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises and remarked that the "good sense" of the people had prevailed. He had staked his political future on the referendum result, saying in a broadcast to the nation three days ago that it would be a matter between himself and the individual voter. There was an atmosphere of high tension in Algeria as voting took place. Security was at its highest in the capital, Algiers, where an estimated 20,000 French troops were on patrol. And that was the nub of the problem, the French Government was looking for trouble in the wrong place. The military commander in Algeria, General Raoul Salan, announced a Universal Declaration of Independence, forming a government of French settlers determined to fight the independence movement. Led by Salan and a group of French army officers staged a successful coup in Algiers in April 1961 as well as carrying out several bomb attacks in mainland France assassinating President de Gaulle.

.

	In 1979, Donny Osmond appeared on the Tonight Show with his two deaf brothers Virl and Tom. They performed a version of "Crazy Horses". Truth be told, musically it wasn't very good. Donny said that now he had suffered rejection himself, he had apologised to his brothers for their exclusion from the band. He was sorry, so very sorry about that.
Osmonds

.

M. Mitterand	In 1996, France mourned the loss of its longest-serving president, François Mitterrand, who died at the age of 79 from prostate cancer. The news was announced by President Jacques Chirac at a news conference at the Elysee Palace. He told journalists: "For 14 years M Mitterrand wrote an important page in the history of our country. A great figure has left us." François Mitterrand took many secrets with him when he died, but his most startling claim was revealed in Ali Magoudi’s book, Rendez-vous: The psychoanalysis of François Mitterrand.
President

The figure who enters, 45 minutes late, is François Mitterrand, no less — the president of France. Magoudi discovers that his patient does not want to talk about his childhood or his dreams, but about Margaret Thatcher and the crisis over the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. “Excuse me,” Mitterrand begins, apologising for his late arrival. “I had a difference of opinion to settle with the Iron Lady. What an impossible woman, that Thatcher! “With her four nuclear submarines on mission in the southern Atlantic, she threatens to launch the atomic weapon against Argentina — unless I supply her with the secret codes that render deaf and blind the missiles we have sold to the Argentinians. Margaret has given me very precise instructions on the telephone. Controversy continues to rage amongst contemporary historian. With fifty years of hindsight, many believe that the casus belli for World War Three was Western defence sales, placing equal blame on both Britain and France.

.

In 1992, President George Bush regurgitated his sushi at a dinner banquet during a tour of Japan. Much like the footage of a fatigued President Carter during a 1980 fun run, this anti-photo opportunity in election year was a disaster for Bush who had previously been seen as an athletic and youthful commander-in-chief.

.

In 1811, Charles Deslonde led a successful slave revolt in parts of the Louisiana Territory. The revolt took place in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana and St. James Parish, Louisiana. Deslonde and about 500 insurgent slaves marched down the Mississippi River Road toward New Orleans, killing two whites, burning plantations and crops, and capturing weapons and ammunition. The revolt was a pivotal moment in the termination of Jim Crow laws in the South during the early nineteenth century.

.

Harmony	In 2009, quite unexpectedly, arbitrators from the Congress of Worlds arrived uninvited on planet earth to resolve what they saw as the long-standing dispute between the sons of Apollo, Mason Williams and Tommy Emmanuel. Just about everybody in the galaxy was talking about the family schism, it was after all threatening the spheres. Surely the arbitrators must help reconcile the gods discordant interpretations of the harmony, or they would die trying.
of the Spheres

.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a 'War on Poverty' in the United States. In reality hybrids like Johnson were being developed by the Alliance for alien re-population. Conversion failures were hidden amongst the exaggerated deaths of the homeless that were reported in the United States during the 1960s. This excludes the three hobos famously filmed on the Grassy Knoll at Dallas during the Kennedy Assassination, during the cover-up they really were killed by Alliance agents.

.

In 12-13-2-1-5, the great Sioux military leader, Tashunca-uitco, fought his final battle against the superior forces of the Oueztecan Empire. Knowing they were hopelessly outnumbered, Tashunca-uitco and his warriors bravely held off the Oueztec long enough to give their Cheyenne allies, led by Tatanka Iyotake, time to escape.

.

Nelson Mandela	“I, met Nelson soon after his release from prison.” said Samson Zola, “All those years on on Robben Island, breaking stones and collecting seaweed. He should have been filled with hatred and thirst for revenge.” 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

.

In 1935, the blond King of Rock and Roll, Jesse Garon Presley, was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. Jesse, as he was known to fans around the world, shocked and rocked the 50’s with his blend of black and white southern music, and became the most famous singer in the world – no one else even comes close to his fame and ability to sell records. After his death in the 1970’s, there have even been fans who have started a church in his name, sometimes referred to as the Jesse-its.

.

In 1992, during a tour of Japan, President George Bush became ill at a dinner banquet. Although he dismissed it as a sour stomach, in his hotel room later that evening, he suffered a fatal stroke. His death brought an end to the Republican Party’s dream of another 4 years in the White House, as newly-elevated President Dan Quayle was crushed in the November election, 74 to 21 percent, by Democrat Bill Clinton of Arkansas.

.

In 1634, Galileo Galilei is executed by the Inquisition for heresy, months after being found guilty. The Church had originally granted the blasphemer leniency, but after he continued to publish his “scientific” papers, they took action to silence his heliocentric fallacies forever.

.

Stephen R. Donaldson	In 1968, Stephen Reeder Donaldson languished in Vietnam. By inclination a conscientious objector, he had been compelled to serve in the armed forces. Much later, and after dropping out of his Ph.D. program and moving to New Jersey in order to write fiction, Donaldson made his publishing debut with the first "Covenant" trilogy in 1977. That enabled him to move to a healthier climate. He now lives in New Mexico.
Unbeliever

Donaldson's two year compulsory military duty would be the deep undercurrent of his escapist fantasy writing. In “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever”, the protagonist was a leper struggled with disempowerment in a Land he did not really believe in. These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives: for all the scents of green things growing, Each breath is but an exhalation of the grave, bodies jerk like puppet corpses and hell walks laughing- ~”You Cannot Hope”.

.